Early Voting Off to a Fast Start in Democratic Areas of Ohio - HuffPo

[WillyT]

Early Voting Off to a Fast Start in Democratic Areas of Ohio
Michael P. McDonald
Associate Professor, George Mason University
Posted: October 14, 2010 02:46 PM

<snip>

Ohioans have been casting their ballots for the 2010 midterm elections since September 28th. Voters in other states have also begun casting their ballots. By and large, these ballots are dribbling in, as they typically do so soon in the early voting period. Early voting usually begins to pick up pace as the election nears.

But something special is going on in two Ohio Democratic strongholds: Cuyahoga and Franklin counties.I track on this handy web page that other places around the country - including other Ohio counties - are so far reporting low single digit early voting rates. In stark contrast, over 112,000 votes have already been cast in these two Ohio counties. As a comparison, this represents over ten percent of all ballots cast in the 2006 election in these counties, with still some time to go.

I spoke with local election officials in both counties to understand what is fueling their early voting. They attribute this phenomenon to two factors. First, Ohio recently adopted no-fault absentee voting, which increased the pool of eligible early voters. Second, local election officials in these counties decided to mail an absentee ballot request form to every registered voter. The response has clearly been enthusiastic.

...

For pollsters conducting surveys in Ohio, these high levels of early voting will force them to modify their likely voter modeling to account for people who have already voted. Finally, early voting in these counties raises a good question how the much-discussed enthusiasm gap towards Republicans will actually play out when it comes to voting.

UPDATE: A helpful reader pointed me to Iowa statistics, which tell a similar story as Ohio. Someone forgot to tell Democratic voters about the enthusiasm gap. 42% of the 119,430 early voters in Iowa are registered Democrats compared with 29% registered as Republican.

<snip>

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-p-mcdonald/early-voting-off-to-a-fas_b_763074.html

:kick:

[Tippy]

1. K&R......

[doc03]

2. I voted Tuesday in Ohio n/t

[Scurrilous]

3. Good news.

K & R :thumbsup:

[Howler]

4. Mr Howler and I voted and got our ballots in the mail today.

After Kenneth Blackwell and the 2004 election here in Ohio I'm just surprised there isn't more Democrats voting absentee!
I'll take my chances with a paper trail but there is still no guarantee with the damn repukes around in ANY electoral position .

[WillyT]

5. I'm In CA, And I'm Still Waiting For My Mail-In Ballot

But it will be filled out, and sent back post haste.

:hi:

[Howler]

7. Hey Willy T You guys out in California......

Have some interesting races going on! I Can't wait to see the results on election day.

[WillyT]

8. Me Too... Boxer, Brown, And A Bong !!!

:woohoo:

:evilgrin:

:hi:

[Howler]

10. LOL!!! Sounds like an excellent plan with just the right ingredient! n/t

n/t

[SoCalDem]

6. Here's hoping all those votes are protected, and added in to to Nov 2 vote

:scared:

[county worker]

9. I got up very early this morning and turned on Morning Joe in it's first hour.

To my ears it sounded like the election was last week and the repubs were in control of everything the way they were talking. I mean it seemed like "why even have an election, we know how it's going to turn out. May as well just send the Dems home and bring in the repubs."

[WillyT]

11. The First Rule Of Club Joe Is...

Don't talk about Club Joe.

:rofl:

:evilgrin:

I feel your pain... every goddamned weekday.

:shrug:

:hi: