Posted on 09/28/2004 2:22:48 PM PDT by NewMediaFan
New voters are flooding local election offices with paperwork, registering in significantly higher numbers than four years ago as attention to the presidential election runs high and an array of activist groups recruit would-be voters who could prove critical come Nov. 2.
Cleveland has seen nearly twice as many new voters register so far as compared with 2000; Philadelphia is having its biggest boom in new voters in 20 years; and counties are bringing in temporary workers and employees from other agencies to help process all the new registration forms.
Nationwide figures aren't yet available, but anecdotal evidence shows an upswing in many places, often urban but some rural. Some wonder whether the new voters - some of whom sign up at the insistence of workers paid by get-out-the-vote organizations - will actually make it to the polls on Election Day, but few dispute the registration boom.
"We're swamped," said Bob Lee, who oversees voter registration in Philadelphia. "It seems like everybody and their little group is out there trying to register people."
Some examples, from interviews with state and county officials across the country:
- New registered voters in Miami-Dade County, a crucial Florida county in 2000, grew by 65 percent through mid-September, compared with 2000.
- New registered voters jumped nearly 150 percent in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) in Ohio, one of the most hard-fought states this year.
And that's with weeks left until registration deadlines fall, beginning in October.
Curtis Gans at the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate said a clear national picture won't emerge until more applications are processed next month...
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
I just wish some evidence of collusion between the Kerry campaign and some vote scammers could be uncovered in 2 or more states. That would sink the Democrats forever.
Need a photoshop whiz to add a few Kerry-Edwards lawn signs to the cemetery, then you got yourself a nice pic.
Don't count on it... Even if they were connected to scammers by video evidence, the Media would cover for them and they'd skate. Don't forget the shopping bags of cash delivered to the Clinton White House and nothing happened.
How many of them are classified as "homeless without ID" aka illegal aliens?
How algore almost stole an election .....
Bug-eyed Chad Search
"HMMMMM, worrisome to say the least."
Absolutely..it is clear the DEMS are going to steal teh election. Question is are we prepared to take up arms if necessary?
If new voters were really interested in signing up, I'd have expected to see a steady build throughout the campaign season. If the spike in registration is happening all at once, and this close to the deadline, could it really be an attempt to swamp the registrar offices so as to hide the illegal applications?
-PJ
I may be too old for the Iraq war, but not this one, let them try, remember Florida!!!!!!
I am getting tired hearing about voter fraud but no one suggests doing anything about it. It seems Kerry plans on stealing 4 states, OH, FL, IA and WI. yet no one does anything just complains.
We are rapidly approaching the point where violence against he left maybe our only option
Poll watchers arent the answer since it is being done by absentee ballots. A lot of good poll watching wil ldo.
I wonder how many are actually alive. Or, for that matter, actually exist at all except on the registration.
Require a valid photo ID in the state where voters will be voting. That solves 90% of the problem.
You don't need to ask me that question...AS FOR ME GIVE ME LIBERTY OR DEATH! ;)
If you consider media bias to have about the same effect in polls as fraud in the election it's a wash.
Tell me more about the bags of cash. I don't know that one.
I must report on 2 e-messages that arrived in my college "mail" today: the first linked to a NYT editorial as "recommended reading", which editorial criticized local folks for not being encouraging/active/helpful enough in allowing/getting students to vote locally (as in, in the precinct of their "temporary" college residence)...the article also referenced "public interest groups", but we "residents" need to be more encouraging too...and the Supreme Court has apparently established it as a right for students (and other "temporary residents"?) to vote at their currently "local" polling places (while also recommending setting up polls right on campus...aargh!)...
The second message was simply to announce that "we and our students" might want to attend the ACT Vote for Change concerts, being held in Ohio, and there were some tickets available by calling 202 4l9-l040.
Then there was also an earlier announcement that the College Democrats would have a voter-registration booth at the student union center everyday at meal-times...
To be scrupulously fair, the PoliSci dept. sends out lots of info., but I'm tryng to remember if announcements were made about W or Laura's various local visits? I know Kerry/Edwards stops have been noted...
Last but not least...the recent information shared about a certain informal survey and the completely shocking lack of knowledge regarding current events among the undergraduates...
It begs the questions: why would we want uninformed people to vote? and if these students were informed and interested, why have they not already arranged for an absentee ballot from their home precinct?? (the ones I know have...)
We have already had cases here of dead people registering, and absentee ballots being obtained fraudulently (imagine...none of these "new voters" can spell the name of the street they all live on, but they're not going to be there anywaysince they're all planning to be out of town during election week, too)...so while I certainly encourage young people to exercise their right to vote, the possibilities at the college of undue influence on immature students, and/or the potential "gold mine" of double votes (local plus absentee, "a la Florida") makes me very worried!!
Perhaps I should just write that "in reply" on the school mail?! What else can I do? (pinging dubya and con to ping the NE Ohio list...and pinging card for "local distribution", LOL!)
Rather than take that point of view -- do what they suggested today at the Laura Bush Rally in Salem, OR!
Every registered Republican go out and get two new Republican voters registered.
I know I am taking a ballot to someone who just moved to Keizer (next to Salem) from Tillamook!
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