Here are the latest figures out of Iowa.
First here are the numbers for the absentee ballot requests:
Dems 212,663 (45.91%)
Reps 142,370 (30.74%)
Inds 107,701 (23.25%)
Oth 485 (negligible)
TOTAL 463,219
Here are the new ballot requests since the last report:
Dems +5,587
Reps +5,287
Inds +4,603
This is the third straight day that Democrats outstripped Republicans in absentee ballot requests. This continues to be a positive development for us.
And now, here are the numbers for actual ballots cast:
Dems 140,631 (49.42%)
Reps 86,249 (30.31%)
Inds 57,414 (20.18%)
Oth 275 (negligible)
TOTAL 284,569
Here are the ballots cast since the previous daily report:
Dems +7,685
Reps +7,384
Inds +4,866
Republicans got within about 200 ballots of Democrats in the previous daily report, and in this one, Democrats bested them by over 300, so that is welcome news, even if the difference between the two reports is somewhat insignificant. Currently, Democrats lead Republicans in ballots cast by 54,382. By the end of the early voting period in 2008, Democrats were ahead of Republicans by about 86,000 ballots cast. It will be very interesting to see if Obama's debate performance has an impact on early voting over the next several days.
Here is a link to the report: http://sos.iowa.gov/...