(FL) Researcher: Long lines at polls caused 49,000 not to vote
Source: Orlando Sentinel
Like Jordan, as many as 49,000 people across Central Florida were discouraged from voting because of long lines on Election Day, according to a researcher at Ohio State University who analyzed election data compiled by the Orlando Sentinel.
About 30,000 of those discouraged voters most of them in Orange and Osceola counties likely would have backed Democratic President Barack Obama, according to Theodore Allen, an associate professor of industrial engineering at OSU.
About 19,000 voters would have likely backed Republican Mitt Romney, Allen said.
This suggests that Obama's margin over Romney in Florida could have been roughly 11,000 votes higher than it was, based just on Central Florida results. Obama carried the state by 74,309 votes out of more than 8.4 million cast.
Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-discouraged-voters-20121229,0,215136.story
samsingh
(17,598 posts)who would have guessed.
so i would argue that both of bush w elections were impacted by this type of surpression.
Gman
(24,780 posts)It could have been worse and Obama loses FL but for the tenacity of the Democrats there.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)ChairmanAgnostic
(28,017 posts)There actually are rules about this stuff. There are legal avenues available. The DOJ had a duty, and it did little or nothing to fulfill it. But, that seems to be the norm, not the exception.
Instead, Holder goes after pot dispensaries in California and Colorado. The protections that Holder has provided to war criminals, corporate types, Wall street bandits, and other criminals from the Bush admin have been almost unbelievable. Since we had an election, now two, those criminals get a Stay Out of Court Card? Unbelievable.
Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)of the President.
ChairmanAgnostic
(28,017 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)but few acknowledge the fact that he does what the president wants him to do.
I was involved in the GOTV effort. We spent the last 3 weeks prior to the election contacting Democrats by phone and urging them to cast absentee ballots or to vote early. Could have been a lot worse.
oldhippydude
(2,514 posts)alphafemale
(18,497 posts)progressoid
(49,990 posts)ChairmanAgnostic
(28,017 posts)RebelOne
(30,947 posts)and she said it almost empty. She walked in, voted and was out in 15 minutes.
FreeBC
(403 posts)Obviously they keep getting away with it. Why would they stop? Integrity? Honesty? please... we're talking about republicans here.
They will keep doing it until there are repercussions. That's where the federal government is supposed to come in. But, despite a democratic administration, they keep letting Florida republicans get away with it.
AnnieK401
(541 posts)lovelyrita
(241 posts)It was full of silly ballot amendments added to the ballot by our horrible legislature. If one went on election and read each one (there were 12) it would take each person about 45 minutes to vote. A lot of people think the legislature did this intentionally to slow down voting.
So not only did they reduce early voting days and make it very difficult to register voters but they made the actual act of voting take an inordinate amount of time. The outcome should not be a surprise because minus Obama winning, the FL GOP got what they wanted.
XRubicon
(2,212 posts)I bet quite a few repubs in conservative counties read each amendment at the polls like it was a mortgage contract... it slowed all voting down.
tblue37
(65,342 posts)Blasphemer
(3,261 posts)to the economic policy and gun control debates. Willing voters being unable to vote is a national disgrace.