Muslim voter registration up 300,000 since 2012

More than a quarter million Muslims have become registered voters since the last presidential election, a Muslim group reported on Tuesday.

In June there were 824,000 registered Muslim voters whose first, middle or last names matched a list of 43,538 traditionally Muslim names, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which used a private national database of voter information. That number represents a significant bump from the 500,000 voters the group accounted for in 2012, using the same method.

One reason for the surge, CAIR suggests, is "increased political involvement resulting from rhetorical attacks on that faith community by public figures." While the press release does not mention GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump by name, it does contain two links to articles about how the candidate is "attacking Muslims" and "fueling prejudice, hate incidents."

CAIR government affairs director Robert McCaw applauded the Muslim community for its efforts to get out the vote, and slammed "hostile" proposals made by Trump over the course of his campaign, including a ban on Muslims entering the United States.

"As a community under the pressure of hostile political rhetoric calling for profiling of American Muslims, Muslim immigration bans and warrantless surveillance of mosques, we must utilize all the tools of positive civic engagement to preserve religious freedom and other constitutional rights," said McCaw.