Posted on 10/06/2008 3:27:41 PM PDT by RecallMoran
I guess it could be fraud, but you need to remember that a lot of people in politics, government, and NGOs live in Arlington...in other words, it’s a highly educated and fairly affluent county where most people consider it poor civic stewardship not to vote...so the high voter registration is perhaps not fraud. Unlike DC, Arlington doesn’t really have any slums and probably more than half of the population has a bachelors degrees and I heard that close to 40% of the population has graduate degrees. Heck, where else in the country can you walk on the public bus system or the subway and see the majority of people actually reading newspapers, books on government, politics, law, etc.? That’s just how Arlington is...it’s educated, affluent, and full of people who will be running to the polls on election day. Unfortunately, most of them are young “progressive” liberals.
Everything you say is correct...the State Department also has offices in Arlington as well.
LOL, not sure when’s the last time I’ve seen a kid in my condo complex. When people in Arlington and DC decide they want to have kids, the move back “home”...with the average home priced around $600,000 most people in their 20’s and 30’s can’t afford a house, let alone kids.
Bachelor’s degrees are indeed around 60%. However, there are broad stretches of Arlington that are heavily hispanic. The edges are not affluent but are more so than a few years ago. In Arlington as well as Alexandria I felt the need to use private schools due to the “reduced lunch program” population which is often above 50% in most grammar schools.
Yeah, and those are the people who probably aren't voting. In theory (from what I interpet your post to mean), do you honestly think that a bunch of illegal migrant workers will risk deportation and their livelihood over casting a ballot in Arlington county? Probably not. This is a place where the average resident agonizes over fair trade coffee, organic food, sustainable "green" living, and Apple computers. They and all their friends will all run out to vote on election day.
What I mean is that the registration figure as a percent of total population is too high because, as you say, the illegals are not voting (assuming they were counted in the census in any way). The heavily minority makeup of the schools makes me believe that someone is counting them. I have to put up with other affluent Arlington pre-school mothers every day. Surprisingly about 40% are closet Republicans. The non-child bearing ugly single policy wonks out number the real americans 3 to 1 but still can’t make up 98% of the registered voters.
I think it’s honestly difficult to evaluate the accuracy of those numbers without knowing the methodology used. The numbers do seem unusually high though, but from what I’ve seen, not impossible. I think that this election has really galvanized a lot of normally apathetic 20 and 30 somethings.
Well hopefully the “youth” won’t make it to the polls again. They are hyped every 4 years and end up not being much of an issue. I do think they are under estimating the steel toed boots against Obama crowd.
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