Massive voter registration in Florida, 25, 000 in one day.

[madfloridian]

I will give you three guesses, the first two don't count...which party will benefit. This is amazing. The state is getting bogged down. I guess the only way to have a chance in this state is to make it so huge a rush of new voters that there will be no doubt.

Florida: State and counties grapple to register new voters

On the eve of a potentially historic presidential election, Florida's elections office says it has been swamped by thousands of would-be voters and needs counties statewide to help handle the flood.

"In the last 10 days, we have received an unusually high volume of voter registration applications," state Division of Elections Director Donald Palmer wrote in an e-mail to Florida's 67 election supervisors Wednesday.

Despite hiring an extra 25 staffers, Palmer wrote, the agency can't handle the volume -- it received 25,000 new registrations in one day this week -- and "will need to forward many of these applications to the counties of registrants to ensure they are timely processed."

The locals are getting mad at the state because the state is trying to get them to do their job. There's gonna be more anger before it is over.

The state's voter rolls have swelled by more than 476,000, to 10.74 million voters, since the start of the year. More than 89,000 new registrations were processed in August alone, and registered Democrats now exceed Republicans by 500,000 -- 4.45 million compared with 3.95 million. But many county election supervisors were annoyed Wednesday that the state was asking them to try to help process the voter applications.

Critics say the state is unprepared to handle the deluge of new interest sparked in a presidential election cycle.

"They tried to have one staff in Tallahassee take over what 67 staffs around the state were doing," said Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho, who said his office received 2,000 applications in one day this week and doesn't have the time to help the state. "They can't handle the load they've gotten. But every county in the state is going to be slammed, too, with voter registrations -- so good luck."

The Republicans are as usual blaming ACORN for everything. ACORN is going to be fighting back.

ACORN officials said they've submitted 135,000 voter registration cards in Florida and promised "decisive and appropriate action" against anyone submitting phony applications -- including firing one worker. ACORN's Florida director, Brian Hettenring, dismissed the Republicans' remarks.

Tired of Republican bullies in this state. Let them get on the ball and get those voters registered. Brown shirts, bullies....that's how they have acted here in this state since 2000.

I like the statement of the ACORN director: "They're scared as hell of these new voters."

Yes, they are. They are so busy registering voters they don't have time to keep up with the efforts to be bullies.

[Thrill]

1. I think we all may be underestimating Obama's new voters

They make a huge difference in a ton of states

[grantcart]

3. actually I think that we have been banging the drum for a long time

and on Nov 5th America is going to be shocked

[Cha]

2. We all know it's really wonderful to

hear some great news coming out of your Florida state, mad!

I love Sarah Silverman's idea, too..about getting the young people down there to encourage their parents and grandparents to vote for Obama!

[Dawgs]

17. No worries here. My senior parents are voting(and working) for Obama.

My Mom volunteers on Saturdays to help register these new voters.

[grantcart]

4. great great post thank you

[madfloridian]

9. We need some good news around here.

Surrounded by a bunch of right wingers where I live. Get so tired of it.

[grantcart]

15. look at the daily widget tomorrow - North Carolina goes blue

[madfloridian]

16. Give me a link to the daily widget.

I miss so much stuff around here now. The board is so busy.

[Barack_America]

5. Lol. ACORN. Yeah, that's how they work.

They register TONS of people, but tend to hold their registrations for large dumps.

Here in Philly, their workers get paid per registration so they tend to turn in all their registrations to ACORN at once. During the primaries here there were actually turf wars between the Obama campaign volunteers and ACORN people for prime locations.

They do good work though. I was registered by an ACORN volunteer. Of course I got nervous because they held my registration for a month and ended up registering again in person at the BOE, but they did eventually turn it in.

[usregimechange]

6. We are shutting down county clerks offices country wide!

[flamingdem]

7. Supernews on the Blue Landslide in FL

It could happen!

[madmax]

8. I don't know what to say

:hug: :bounce: :applause: :bounce:

[madfloridian]

10. More on how they are trying to handle all the new registrations

From the Jacksonville Business Journal

Counties asked to help Florida handle voter registrations

"A wave of new voter registrations has caused state officials to reach out to county elections supervisors for help. Citizens have until Oct. 6 to register to vote in the Nov. 4 presidential election, and can submit those applications to the county or the state. The Florida Division of Elections sent an e-mail Wednesday to supervisors across the state saying that the office had processed more than 30,000 applications since June, and then received another 25,000 applications on Tuesday.

The state has hired extra workers who are putting in 12- to 16-hour shifts, but doesn’t expect to be able to process all the applications by Oct. 21.

“Despite these additional hires, we will need to forward many of these applications to the counties of registrants to ensure they are timely processed,” wrote Donald L. Palmer, director of the Division of Elections.

More on this.

“We’re in an overtime mode now doing Duval County,” he said. “It would be kind of irresponsible of us to take on other counties and not meet our deadline.”

Holland said he expects turnout in November to reach 85 percent in Duval County, which would break a record more than 50 years old. He bases that prediction on greater numbers of registration applications from the urban core, which typically has turnout about 10 percent lower than the rest of the county, and the interest in the election he sees speaking to civic groups.

I don't have a doubt who benefits.

[AtomicKitten]

11. Americans are taking a good look at Palin and deciding to get involved.

:scared:

[Blue_Roses]

12. this is awesome!

:bounce:

[saltpoint]

13. Strongly recommended.

[madfloridian]

14. Thanks.

Anything good out of Florida is extra welcome.

[Joe Chi Minh]

18. Yippee!

[Sancho]

19. I confess that I've been encouraging voters to register (and switch!)

Overall I'm sure that it has been very successful. Earlier this year we saw more Democratic registrations than GOP in Pinellas County (Clearwater, St. Pete) for the first time in decades. If this county is typical, then the whole state may be big blue for Obama in November!

I'm still very concerned. The machine manipulation in Sarasota while Kathy Dent thinks it is funny, the refusal of Deborah Clark to provide more early voting stations, and Kurt Browning's obvious agenda are worrisome. I have personally seen:

-Voting machines left unsecured in libraries and churches in Pinellas.
-Letters from "volunteers" refusing to allow registration or switches to the Democratic party for name/address/residency details that were silly.
-Poll workers insisting on driver's licenses even when voters have other acceptable ID's.
-An electronic machine appear to "switch" a vote between the voting screen and the review screen.

Given the complaints over missing mailed ballots and the wonderful election history in Florida, the caging lists and poll refusals will be large this election. We should expect it. I've also noticed some changes in poll locations that may confuse voters. Each county and precinct have their own battles, but there is no question that the GOP has a plan and is pulling strings all over the state.

The bushie secretary of state and leftover election supervisors are hardly hiding their bias at this point, and failing to get everyone registered on time is one more ploy.

I hoped that everyone could vote in a primary to confirm proper registration, but turnout was lousy for the last opportunity. I really hope the DNC has an official way to track the complaints and intervene aggressively over the manipulations, but I haven't seen anything organized. If there is something, please post it. We're going to need all the help we can get in Florida. It's a war!

Here is a link to Browning's statement (in part): http://www.dos.state.fl.us/news/communications/pressRelease/pressRelease.cfm?id=332

"Every voter registration applicant must provide (if issued) a Florida driver’s license number, state identification card number or the last 4 digits of the social security number. The identification number is automatically cross-checked against the Florida driver’s license database (DHSMV) or the Social Security Administration database. If that number does not match, the Bureau of Voter Registration Services manually reviews for identifiable typographical errors or a difference between a nickname and formal name based on available records and the actual voter registration application.

If the number still cannot be matched, the applicant is notified to provide a photocopy of their identification by mail, by fax, or by e-mail; or the applicant may show their identification in person. If proof is provided before the election, the applicant becomes registered and the person is able to vote a regular ballot. If proof is not provided before the election, the person may vote a provisional ballot. The person may provide proof up until 5 p.m. of the 2nd day after the election for the ballot to be counted. Keep in mind, this is just for new applications since September 8, 2008."

and here are your options in Florida:

IDENTIFICATION OPTIONS FOR VOTING AT THE POLLS
(a) Florida driver's license.
(b) Florida identification card issued by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
(c ) United States passport.
(d) Debit or credit card.
(e) Military identification.
(f) Student identification.
(g) Retirement center identification.
(h) Neighborhood association identification.
(i) Public assistance identification.

:dem:

[madfloridian]

20. Am I correct that Browning only answers to the governor, not the legislature?

I don't trust any of the Republicans here in FL as far as I can throw them.

[Sancho]

23. Remember katherine harris! The Sec. of State "certifies the vote"!

We should expect a snake! We have a chance, but the day is not done until the votes are counted!

[Jackinbox]

21. Cautiously optimistic

This sounds great but I keep thinking back to 2004 when they had record turnout at early voting. Some lines were 2 hours+ long. I was sure with the high turnout we were going to take FL but we didn't. We'll need an even stronger turnout to overcome whatever dirty tricks they have up their sleeve.

[demo dutch]

22. Mad!, get ready for huge problems at the FL polls

[Hope And Change]

24. K & R!