Nearly 8,000 New Voters Registered Ahead of Georgia Special Election

[book_worm]

A last-minute push to register voters in Georgia's 6th Congressional District before the June 20 special election has resulted in nearly 8,000 new voters in the district as of Tuesday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. That's a big enough number to swing a close election, and polls thus far show the race within the margin of error. It's also an encouraging sign for Democrat Jon Ossoff, the insurgent candidate who topped the first round of voting in the solidly Republican district and is hoping that new voters can put him on top in the June 20 runoff...

So when a federal judge reopened voter registration in the district through May 21, groups that target young, poor, and minority voters rushed into the district to register eligible voters. The 7,942 new voters include new registrants and people who moved into the district after the primary and transferred their registration.

The district has more than 521,000 registered voters, so it's unclear whether another 7,942—or about 1.5 percent of that total—will make a difference. Ossoff fell 3,700 votes short of winning an outright majority in the primary on April 18. If the runoff remains a toss-up, these new voters could determine the winner.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/05/nearly-8000-new-voters-registered-ahead-georgia-special-election

[samnsara]

1. great...but where were they in november????????

[still_one]

4. I think it is more productive to be encouraging at this point in time

[aikoaiko]

2. Go Blue with Jon Ossoff, 6th District.

?quality=65&strip=all&w=780&strip=all

[kimbutgar]

3. Will those machines record their votes or be hacked by the GOP in favor of the

Woman who destroyed the Komen foundation?

[book_worm]

5. The interesting thing is that GA has potential to go Blue nationally--Trump only got 51.1%

and in NC he got under 50%--one day those two states along with VA will be voting Democratic. Texas one day will change (like California did in the 90's).

[Hoyt]

6. Hopefully. But that district elected racist Tom Price by 20 points. While Dem

candidate wasn't strong, neither was Trump. Got fingers crossed and will probability send a bit more to Ossoff, but it's a tough district that elected Newt Gingrich and Tom Price.

[Justice]

7. Trump won it by only 1 point.

Mitt Romney beat Barack Obama there by 23 points in 2012.

This district is not a fan of Trump.

[Hoyt]

9. Tom Price on same day won by 20+ points. He and Handel are equally white wing.

[Awsi Dooger]

8. Georgia has 42% self-identified conservatives

That's still far, far removed from a true swing state. Every cycle we get overly enthused about Georgia, among other states.

I have no idea why the ideological percentages are never presented. There's no mystery in why a state is a swing state: It mirrors the national percentages of liberals and conservatives. For example, Florida is a classic swing state because its breakdown of 36% conservatives and 25% liberals is very tight to the national number (2016) of 35% conservatives and 26% liberals. Florida is slightly red, as confirmed by those numbers.

Nevada, BTW, had the identical 36/25 split as Florida in 2016. But we carried Nevada largely because the Democratic operation is so strong there, fortified by Harry Reid when he knew he faced yet another troublesome midterm cycle in 2010. Reid barely survived those midterms several times. Nevada is also much easier to organize than Florida since the voters are concentrated so heavily in Clark County, and the early voting access is tremendous.

Georgia is 42% conservatives and 22% liberals. Not close in either category. Likewise we mostly waste time in North Carolina and its 43% conservatives.

By far the most intriguing state in 2016 was Arizona. I've been focusing on those numbers for more than 20 years and have never seen a state with higher than the national average in both liberals and conservatives. But Arizona in 2016 qualified, with 40% conservatives and 27% liberals.

That state is legitimately in play, especially if we put more resources into it and find the correct candidates. Eventually that 40% conservatives should drift downward, closer to the 36 or 37% normally registered in Nevada. Colorado was already down to 35% conservatives in 2016, combined with a robust 28% liberals. That combo was extremely encouraging.

I always get the feeling I'm one of the few who pays attention to those numbers, while the campaign strategists fixate on fragile state polls, ones that can blatantly lie if you don't understand the foundational aspects of the electorate in each state.

[oswaldactedalone]

10. Ossoff lead down to one

at 49-48 so only 3 per cent undecided.