Pundits, pollsters and some party leaders are calling my state — Florida — a toss-up, a battleground in the presidential race.

Registered Democrats are on the rise in Florida, as if someone ordered a surge. Voter registration overall grew 4 percent since the January primary and the number of Democrats increased 6 percent.

Those numbers bode well for Barack Obama, but they also bode well for the campaign to defeat Amendment 2, a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in a state where same-sex marriage already is against the law.

Anti-gay measures in Florida are not quite as common as the unofficial state bug, the cockroach, but they seem to be just as tough to exterminate. Think of the surge in registered Democrats as a super-sized can of Raid, provided these new voters get to the polls.

The number of new voters has climbed in other states as well, including an increase in the number and percentage of registered Democratic voters in California.

There Proposition 8 on the ballot would take back same-sex marriage rights — I guess there are cockroaches on the Pacific Coast too.

But again, surveys over the past decade show that a bump in the number of registered Democratic voters translates to more GLBT-friendly votes.

The window of opportunity to increase registration numbers even more in Florida closes at 5 p.m. Oct. 6, but people can register for the general election in California until Oct. 20. And opportunities to register remain in other states, states where your vote might help elect a gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual candidate to office, or where your vote might oust an anti-gay lawmaker. Your vote might re-elect a GLBT-friendly candidate in a tight contest or defeat a do-nothing lawmaker in an upset.

There’s a reason that four of 27 U.S. constitutional amendments are dedicated to voting rights:

• The 15th Amendment guarantees, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

• The 19th Amendment guarantees, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

• The 24th Amendment guarantees, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election … shall not be denied or abridged … by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.”

• The 26th Amendment guarantees, “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age.”

Voters are the foundation of free government and democracy. Voters decide whom to put into office, from the town mosquito control commission to the White House. Voters decide which initiatives pass or fail, which amendments to constitutions go forward. Voters decide who will propose and vote up or down legislation to build a bridge in Alaska, bail out Wall Street or ban bias based on sexual orientation in the workplace.

So, now, if you are not registered to vote, or not too enthusiastic about getting to the precinct Nov. 4, consider this: Do you want to leave all this up to your parents? Your co-workers? Your neighbors? Do you really want to leave all this up to strangers who breed anti-gay campaigns like cockroaches?

You cannot vote for change, rock the vote, out the vote, unless you register to vote.

Registering can be as simple as going to the Human Rights Campaign’s Web site, www.hrc.org, and clicking to “Campaigns and Elections” and then “Register to Vote.”