Election Day Live Thread

[Tatertots]

Ok, I voted! Yay me.

[Cassander]

went by the office...line was out the door.  plus we had just gotten the puppy, so...might try on halloween.  get up early and try to be first in line in my day of the dead costume.

[fajwat]

Are you going to copy Tyson's costume too?  Because that might not be such a great idea in the voting area.

[nacho]

God, just a few days until all this shit is over and everyone shuts up about it!

[nacho]

McCain wins Georgia!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/26/voter.suppression/index.html

College senior Kyla Berry was looking forward to voting in her first presidential election, even carrying her voter registration card in her wallet.

But about two weeks ago, Berry got disturbing news from local election officials.

"This office has received notification from the state of Georgia indicating that you are not a citizen of the United States and therefore, not eligible to vote," a letter from the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections said.

But Berry is a U.S. citizen, born in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a passport and a birth certificate to prove it.

[Tatertots]

And so the end times arrive!

[Tatertots]

In Florida, election officials found that 75 percent of about 20,000 voter registration applications from a three-week period in September were mismatched due to typographical and administrative errors.

Jesus.

[nacho]

The early voter freakout!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/27/voting.wrap/index.html

As of Monday, 30 states either are allowing voters to vote in person early or are accepting absentee ballots, and election officials are reporting record turnouts. Voting problems, ranging from computer glitches to long lines, have been reported in a few states.

As of Monday, more than 1 million voters, nearly a fifth of registered voters, already had voted in Georgia, according to Matt Carrothers, a spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel. Four years ago, 422,485 Georgians voted early, Carrothers said.

[Reginald McGraw]

Wow!  20% early voter turnout?  I'm sure some years we struggle to get 20% turnout at all.

[Nubbins]

Yeah, people here are going nuts.  I still think I'm going to wait for election day to vote.

[nacho]

Wow!  20% early voter turnout?  I'm sure some years we struggle to get 20% turnout at all.

We're usually around 50%.  Which represents about 20% of our society, yes.  Considering that 10% of the population over the age of 18 is unable to vote for various reasons (felons, non-citizens).

Actually, I looked it up... Somebody else has to do the math because I'm really stupid.  

30% of our current 300,000,000 is under 18 as of 2006.  

10% over 18 cannot vote.

There are 147 million registered voters, of whom an average of 50% actually vote.  The highest turnout in the last 50 years has been 60%, the lowest was 49%.

[Reginald McGraw]

So 210,000,000 are over 18.

21,000,000 can't vote (the 10%).

Leaving us with 189,000,000 possible.

With 147,000,000 registered...  (Only 42,000,000 unregistered?  Surprising!)

and 50% voting...

73,500,000 generally vote out of a possible 189,000,000, which is:

About 39% of eligible people.

[RottingCorpse]

Man, next Tuesday is going to be a clusterfuck of wicked proportions.

[Cassander]

yeah, those stats don't make sense to me either?  only 42 million unregistered people?  i'd like to see the number of consecutive elections each of those 147 million have actually voted in. 

[nacho]

i'd like to see the number of consecutive elections each of those 147 million have actually voted in. 

None.  We haven't had a turnout of more than 50% since the 1960's.