WASHINGTON -- Black Americans inspired by Barack Obama's bid for president could turn out to vote in record numbers in November and may even tip the balance in some key battleground states, experts say.

Political activists in the heavily Democratic black community have spent months registering voters in crucial states such as Virginia, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Missouri, where a surge in black turnout could transform the American electoral map and give a minority group a defining vote.

The urge to make history has sent community leaders on a hunt for new voters at churches, Bible study groups, family reunions, fast food chains, hip-hop concerts and even in the halls of justice.

"We are trying to get people who have never registered, never voted," said Reverend Ronald Winters who heads the Fairfax, Virginia branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a non-partisan civic group.

The multi-state effort began as early as June, and culminated this month with the close of registration polls.

Across Virginia, "voter empowerment teams" earned a regular time slot at black church services to explain the process and hand out the necessary forms.

With blacks making up 12 percent of the electorate but 40 percent of the prison population in America, part of the outreach extended to ex-convicts, who may have the right to vote depending on state law, the severity of the crime and the penalty served.

"I get quite a number of requests for felonies to be removed so that people can vote," said Winters.

Other voter drives focused on convincing black youths to vote, with concerts by rap stars like Bow Wow and speeches by prominent community figures such as Kemba Smith, who was jailed for her involvement with a notorious drug dealer in the 1990s.

"Obama is having an enormous influence and doing a great deal to energize young voters," said analyst David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Targeting the black youth vote is important because the median black age in America is 31, about 10 years younger than whites, and because young black voters have not voted en masse in recent presidential elections, he said.

"This time with Obama, there is probably going to be a big uptick in younger black voters," Bositis said, adding that will push national turnout after about 56 percent of eligible blacks voted in 2004.

"My expectation is that black turnout will be up about 20 percent from last time."

A rise in black voters will be crucial to the outcome in states such as Florida and Virginia, where black turnout was "much lower than white turnout" in 2004, the Joint Center said in a report.

Already the voter registration figures are showing a significant increase in Virginia, where 306,000 new voters were enlisted as of September 30, and 42 percent of those voters were age 18-25.

"All of our numbers are running higher than they were in 2004," said state election official Susan Lee.

Similar results have been seen in Ohio, which registered 665,949 new voters in 2008. President George W. Bush won the state four years ago by taking the majority

Republican suburban counties, even though the overall margin of votes in his favor was relatively slim at just over 136,000.

However, states like Virginia and Ohio do not keep records as to how many of the new registrants are black or Democrat, and key state of Florida will not release its demographics on voter registration until later this month.

Still, Obama supporters hope that the results will show the spike they are hoping for.

"I have been doing this for 25-30 years and I have never seen this level of involvement and interest in any election," said Cynthia Downs-Taylor of the Virginia Unity '08 Campaign, part of a broad coalition of civic groups aiming to increase the black vote.

Overall, 90 percent of African-Americans have voted Democratic in each presidential race since 1980, and black turnout in the 2008 primary round of voting skyrocketed 115 percent, the Joint Center said.

With that kind of support for Obama in the black community, part of Winters' job has involved reminding poll volunteers not to wear Obama gear on voting day, and keeping his political opinions to himself.

"I'm walking on thin ice and the sun is shining," joked Winters, who said he sticks with the mantra: "Do the right thing, and the right thing is to vote."