I just heard Rachel Maddow say early voting has been "light", not up to expectations, no higher than 2004, citing Indiana and Colorado as examples, and then grilling Howard Dean on whether this is a problem. WTF is she talking about? Is this a ploy to get people to vote? Or is she just wrong? More below the fold.
I was a poll watcher (or, if you want to get fancy, a Florida Election Attorney) for the Democrats this past Saturday, at one of our early voting outposts. Now, granted, I live in a pretty Democratic county - Alachua, Univ of Florida's location - but still, the numbers of early voters here have been unprecedented, and in my location, there were lines all day long, although nothing out of control. County wide, more than 20% of registered voters had already voted by the end of Saturday, and we've got another week to go of early voting. And our experience is echoed all over the state.
A record number of voters lined up to vote when Florida opened its early voting stations Monday, with some waiting hours to cast their ballots. The early polling stations will remain open until the weekend before Election Day.
Jennifer Davis, spokeswoman for the Florida secretary of state's office, said several counties are reporting numbers far exceeding the 2004 turnout.
In Sarasota County, 4,700 people cast ballots Monday, compared with 2,088 on the first day four years ago, Davis said, leading officials there to believe that half the county's ballots could be cast before November 4.
In Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties, 6,688 people already had opted for early voting, compared with 1,088 on the first day in 2004.
http://www.cnn.com/...
State election officials said Monday that early voting already has reached record levels as the presidential campaign enters its final week.
As of Monday, 30 states either are allowing voters to vote in person early or are accepting absentee ballots, and election officials are reporting record turnouts. Voting problems, ranging from computer glitches to long lines, have been reported in a few states.
As of Monday, more than 1 million voters, nearly a fifth of registered voters, already had voted in Georgia, according to Matt Carrothers, a spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel. Four years ago, 422,485 Georgians voted early, Carrothers said.
Most of this year's voters, 85 percent, have voted in person at early voting sites, according to Handel's office.
http://www.cnn.com/...
A million Floridians have already voted early, and that does not include absentee ballots, which the Florida Department of State's office says will also be about a million. They are predicting that almost 25% of the 10 million registered voters will have voted either early or by absentee ballot by election day. This is extremely high.
Indiana appears to be low - only 6% have sent in absentee ballots by mail or in person - but that number is more than the entire number submitted in 2004. Here's a link to a CNN map that gives the data as of today for the early voting states. http://www.cnn.com/...
So what the heck is Rachel talking about? I think her story on this was at best mistaken, and extremely misleading. So does she have an agenda here? Light a fire under possibly complacent Democrats in Colorado and Indiana? OK, maybe, but in doing so, she's doing a disservice to the large numbers of enthusiastic Democrats who ARE turning out in record numbers in other states like Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.
My experience as an attorney for Obama trying to make sure people get to vote was extremely positive - my voting site had over 800 voters in four hours on Saturday, and there were only two or three provisional ballots filed, for people who had been purged because they hadn't voted in more than 8 years (a bullshit law, but it's still the law, so nothing I could do). What most impressed me was the dedication of the election office staff and poll workers - they were determined to get EVERYBODY in to vote that they possibly could. They prided themselves in trying every possible angle, and spent most of the morning filling out changes of address for voters (many students) so they could vote regularly right away. It was an inspiration to me.
I also have to say, on a lighter note, that Americans are a spectacularly ill-dressed people - we, as a group, will apparently go out looking like something the cat dragged in with no compunction at all. But perhaps it's just that enthusiasm to vote that Rachel so blithely dismissed in her show, that powered people out the door even with their midriffs hanging out of a too short T-shirt.
I think early voting is going spectacularly well, and I think Rachel was cherry-picking in order to come up with something to worry about. I guessd if that's what she needs, OK, but I don't think it was an accurate reflection of what's going on in many, many states.
We Can Do It!