The 2008 Democratic primaries have brought about an unprecedented surge in participation by so-called "youth voters." In some states, the youth vote was triple the level seen in 2000. This rising tide may make all the difference in the 2008 General Election where Democrats must hold onto those states won by John Kerry in 2004 and flip a couple of red states in the process. The question is whether the huge turnout by voters under 25 in the Democratic primaries is an accurate predictor of their fervor when November rolls around.
Sen. Barack Obama won Maine's Democratic caucuses Sunday as massive numbers of voters braved inclement weather.
The Illinois Democrat beat Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., by a margin of 59 percent to 40 percent with 95 percent of precincts reporting, giving Obama 15 of Maine's 24 pledged delegates who will be bound to vote for him at the party's national convention.
More than 46,000 voters, including 4,000 who cast absentee ballots, participated in the caucuses, easily breaking the record of 17,000 from 2004.
Two quick observations on the Florida vote. Everything has been addressed to Hillary's ploy to allege the Florida voters have been disenfranchised after she agreed that the votes would not count there. That may have been true up to the point that any ballots were cast, but after that the voters that were disenfranchised were the voters that did not bother to vote because they knew their votes would not count, per the DNC.
Voters that had another reason to vote came out to vote in droves on the Florida property tax measure, and those would be the older voters who own property, and who would favor Clinton. The younger voters, who do not own property, would be the ones that tended not to bother voting, and those would tend to favor Obama. We cannot make this Florida election right again no matter what we do; it is grossly flawed to begin with and flawed at the end. The DNC would be damned if they tried to change the rules now.
Second....
OND: News That Could Only Happen Here. . .today’s peerfearless reporter casts a jaundiced eye on America’s most hap’ning city and environs, the crossroads of four continents, home to everything and everyone under the tropical sun, where, when it’s not some scandal, it’s all Fidel all the time. If it’s going on, it’s going on here.
WARNING! What follows is a toxic take on the news; it may be addictive and offensive to some readers, so be sure to get hooked and enjoy the thrill of revulsion. Schooled as I am by journalists Dave Barry (2008 candidate for president) and Carl Hiassen (author of such novels as Basket Case, Sick Puppy, Tourist Season and Strip Tease), irreverence is the by-word in the following compilation of Important Stuff making headlines along the 25th N x 80th W parallels.
Democrats Abroad International is the official overseas branch of the U.S. Democratic Party for some 7 million US citizens living overseas. Over seventy countries throughout the world organize local events and activities to encourage participation in the American political process. They offer help and advice on registering to vote and getting absentee ballots via http://www.votefromabroad.org
This year, for the first time, DA is offering Democrats living overseas the opportunity to vote in their party’s 2008 Global Presidential Primary. The first ever online, worldwide U.S. election! Follow me below the fold.
An aide to Sen. Conrad Burns (R) tells the Hotline this morning that Burns has no plans to concede the MT Senate race anytime soon. The aide said that 21K absentee ballots have yet to be counted and other counties still haven't finished canvassing their regular returns. Democratic officials are confident that Jon Tester (D) will win.
[Yellowstone County] was using a new software program for its three electronic vote-counting machines this year, [County Election Administrator Duane Winslow] said, and he neglected an important function in tabulating the absentee ballots.
Absentee ballots - and there were nearly 20,000 in Yellowstone County this year - are normally counted first, after which the regular ballots from the precincts are counted.
After the absentee ballots were counted, Winslow said, he was supposed to hit a "zero out" button on the voting machines, which basically cleans the slate before the regular ballots are counted. That was the step Winslow neglected to take on two of the machines. He said he thinks he hit the button on one of the machines. [...]
As a result, he said, some of the absentee ballots, perhaps as many as 3,000, may have been counted again when the regular ballots were being run through the machines. He decided about 12:40 a.m. to undertake a complete recount.
"I'd just rather make absolutely sure, especially with races this close," he said.
It occurred to me last night, watching Paula and Anderson and Wolf strut around the CNN technowizards' lair, that nothing gets everyone's attention more than a race that cannot be "called." Occasionally, in such "squeakers," the voter margin is smaller than the number of uncounted absentee ballots, which I assume means that an election could be determined when someone actually gets around to tearing them open and counting them. Which brings me to my dieboldical suggestion. . .
Keeping it short, my absentee ballot for King County, Washington State was in well before time. Today I received a letter from the Elections Dept. stating that they could not match my actual ballot signature to theirs "due to the quality of the [their] electronic image". They had no problem 2 months ago with the primary ballot. Now I have to get a form back to them before Nov. 27th.
Anyone else having problems with WA state absentee ballots? Or any other overseas ballots?
Two committed Democratic voters in Dilliner, Greene County, Pennsylvania need help voting on Tuesday. They are an old and infirm couple and probably would prefer to vote absentee, but it may be too late. I spoke to the husband yesterday as part of the MoveOn GOTV campaign. I want to contact the Murtha or Casey LOCAL campaign offices to get help for the voters, but Murtha's general campaign phone 814-539-8196 in Johnstown does not answer right now and I could find no number for Casey.
Like many of us, I voted early on an absentee ballot, because I distrusted the "machine" I might have to vote on, and also to make a statement. It seems to me this is without little validity if I don't photocopy my vote.
I have the stub, and on Nov. 7th I'm gonna march this ballot over to the polling place because I didn't want this to get lost in the MAIL either or get disqualified somehow...
There are two possibilities here: 1) Absentee ballots really are the most likely choice for those desirous of fraudulent voting, or 2) some skeezebags are trying to give people a false sense of security in electronic voting machines ... by destroying their faith in absentee ballots.
What follows is my post from OC Weekly's weblog, The Blotter (http://blogs.ocweekly.com/...). At first I wasn't sure I even wanted to post it, what with its potential for dissuading people from voting at all, but then I realized this was NOTHING compared to that soulless AARP commercial on CNN that has a half-dozen people saying "Don't vote!" over and over and OVER again. Bastards.
Anyway, enjoy, and please tell me that I'm wrong. I'd LOVE to be wrong. Really.
This diary is mainly for Florida voters. If you know a Florida voter- GET THE WORD OUT. SIGN THE OUTSIDE ENVELOPE. I can't be any plainer than that. Without a signature it will not be counted.
The Absentee Ballots must be received by the Main Office of the Supervisor of Elections by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted. Branch offices close at 5:00 p.m. on Election Day. until Tuesday. Voted Absentee Ballots cannot be turned in at the polls. These instructions are from the Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections. As to the headline see flip side.
Unusually high demand and a printing order that wasn't filled fast enough caused the San Diego County Registrar of Voters to run short of absentee ballots this week. About 5,000 photocopies were mailed out instead, said Registrar of Voters Mikel Haas.
Trust us, they say, we will copy your vote onto a real ballot and count it later!
When those ballots are returned, registrar's employees will copy voters' choices by hand onto regular card stock ballots that can be run through the optical scanners that count the votes.
And who is responsible for this snafu, you ask?
Our "friends" at Diebold, the same wonderful people behind the questionable electronic-voting machines that Election Day voters will use in San Diego County.
Haas said the ballots were to be printed by Diebold, the same company that makes the electronic touchscreen machines that will be used Tuesday. Diebold officials told him there had been problems with the printing press operation, Haas said.
Sen. Domenici is a dominant force in NM politics. And as such he has bullied many opponents both Democrat and Republican. In
previous vote counts he has weighed in on having several thousand absentee ballots disqualified for the democratic challengers of Heather Wilson, and will do so again. I am writing this diary in order to call this to the attention of the kos blog. Any suggestions?
While it might be a small issue I would hate to see any ballots go uncounted because of handling through the mail system. I recently completed voting absentee and the adhesive on the outer envelope seems to be very weak and before I could mail mine it was damn near open. I sent an email to the local elections office and it sounds like I am not the only one with this problem. They are advising that people place a piece of tape on the outer envelope.
I am not sure if all absentee ballots across the state are uniform so this might not be an issue for you. Please check with your local elections office.
The 6 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order last night (Sunday, 29 Oct 2006) staying a lowercourt ruling from last week that had put the ID provision on hold.
There will be a live discussion live on-line at the Columbus Dispatch. You can write them right now and ask a question before the live event or during it. It is very important that the cumbersome I.D. requirement be removed. Please follow me below the fold.
Yesterday I opened my Black Box Voting newsletter to find, that one thing that was being done by voters thinking that it was a secure way to make our vote count, isn`t that full proof. Read on>>>
