Since January 1 more than 436,000 people have registered to vote for 2008 elections. This results in a 10 percent boost that has increased voter numbers around 5 million in Virginia alone, a state with a population of 7 million. In Chicago, election officials are expecting more than 3 million voters to form lines at the voting polls on Election Day. With that being said, due to extraordinary turnout of early voters once November 4th rolls around lines are expected to be slightly smaller. Predictions of having the largest number of voters in decades has led to the Justice Department to help election officials brace for future problems and kinks that may surface on Tuesday. In order to prepare for Tuesday, around 800 federal observers will be monitoring the election polls in 23 states. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said in a written statement, "The Department of Justice will do all it can to help ensure that elections run as smoothly as possible and, equally important, that the American people have confidence in our electoral process.” Talk about extending the voting hours in some states, switching to paper ballot, and making sure adequate amount of voting polls are located in areas in which the minorities are prevalent have all be brought up in order to ensure a smooth election day.