Record-setting 800K participated in this year's National Voter Registration Day

More than 800,000 people registered to vote last week on National Voter Registration Day, setting a new record for the annual event.

This year’s drive took place on Sept. 25, and it exceeded the previous high of 771,321 set in 2016.

The event began in 2012. The group’s only registration drive during a previous midterm election year, 2014, led to 154,500 people registering to vote, according to Time.

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Brian Miller, executive director of Nonprofit VOTE, the group that runs the registration drive, told Time that the final tally is a sign of heightened interest in this year’s midterms.

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“I think people are realizing that midterms do matter and that it’s vital for people to get engaged,” Miller said, adding that the group had “better coordination” and more partners, including Facebook and Twitter, allowing them to recruit more potential voters.

Democratic and nonpartisan advocacy groups have been focusing heavily on voter registration this election cycle, hoping to increase turnout and put Congress back under the control of Democrats.

Former first lady Michelle ObamaMichelle LeVaughn Robinson ObamaThe Hill’s Morning Report – Treasury, Fed urge more spending, lending to ease COVID-19 wreckage Budowsky: Michelle Obama or Tammy Duckworth for VP Michelle Obama urges class of 2020 to couple protesting with mobilizing, voting MORE is co-chairing voter registration group When We All Vote, which is hitting the road with a number of events featuring celebrities.

The survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting have also urged young people to register to vote as part of their March For Our Lives movement.