SHOCKING TURNOUT

On-the-ground Election Day accounts

Jenna writes, "At 7:15 am, there was no parking left in my polling location near Sarasota, FL. The voter turnout is very high."

Barbara F. writes, "Here in Marblehead, MA, we arrived, as usual, at 7 am, and customarily open the joint, as poll folks tell us. Today the place was packed, jammed. Never saw that in 20 years of voting. Keep hope alive!"

Patty K. writes, "There has been a steady, but not overwhelming stream of voters in Old Town, ME. The governor’s race is contentious, as the Independent and Democratic candidates are splitting the liberal and moderate votes, and Paul LePage, a darling of the state Tea Party, is leading. He’s become nationally known for saying that when he’s governor, “you’ll read on the front page of the Bangor Daily News everyday, ‘LePage tells Obama to go to hell!’” Should be an interesting four years if he wins!"

Charles M. in Pennsylvania writes, "I am a Democratic Committeeperson in the south part of Center City which is a mix of blue collar, white collar, white, black, and Asian voters. Thus far, voter turnout surprisingly high."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/02/election-results-2010-live_n_777429.html#21_poll-workers-shocked-by-high-turnout-in-pennsylvania

so good turnout here is NoCal Eastbay

on my voting machine at 9:15am, and this is a very small town here in WI. Turnout is excellent.

Seemed high for this time of day compared to past non-pres elections.

northwest PA) ... poll worker commented on turnout already being ahead of normal. City of Erie is normally a Democrat location (both Kerry and Obama carried the city) while the surrounding county is heavily Republican. High turnout in the city is normally a good sign for Dems."

I worked at DNC Hotline Sunday, and quite a lot of PA calls.

...and I hate it. I loved going down to the local elementary school and joining my friends and neighbors in the ritual of voting. Without that interaction, I have no way of judging turnout - it'll be wait and see. We've got some major issues and a closely contested senate race, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I also happen to think the nationwide picture is going to be a bit different from what the media has been flogging the last couple of months - at least I hope so. Go Dems!

with all 10 voting machines in use. It was heavier than 2008, AFAIR.

I voted in the primary this year, and there was no line at all, which is to be expected as not all that many vote in primaries.

BTW - I noticed that 90% of the people in line today had their CA Voter Guide/Sample Ballot pubs with them. They obviously had spent time with them and had gone through and marked their choices.

The so called pollesters call about 700-1000 people. And they take their results from that. Well where I live my son - where he works and I in the community of people we talk to, ask "Did you get called and polled?" They all say no. Now I know I have talked to almost 100 all say they are voting Democratic and my son as many no calls.

I talked to my brother in another state everyone he talks to never got called, all gonna vote Democratic.

What I am getting at is about 250 people we talked to have not been called. They are going to vote Democratic. Now I know they don't call a lot of republicans either but in the last 10 years how come no one I know who is a Democrat hasn't gotten called. But my nephew who gets his sh*t from his father braggs he was called. He is a republican. So what does that tell you. I think the polling companies go down the list of voters, pick the republicans and call mostly them. I do not believe that all those Democrats are not called at least once in ten years.

Course about 8 months ago I got called in a survey. As soon as I said Democrat and I did not vote for McCain/Palin the caller said goodbye.

There are a lot of people to choose from, and just because you don't know anyone who has doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't calling one sort of group.

Stratified sampling is the norm for this sort of data, and this sort of anecdotal evidence happens all the time.

For example, my extended neighborhood is very Democratic. Ours and the next one to the north and the other one in the East are the only Democratic areas in my red town in my red state. Just so you know the statistics, my neighborhood and the one to my north are mostly "white," while the eastern neighborhood is mostly "black."

I don't know anyone who got polled, either.

If they're trying to get a stratified sampling, wouldn't it make sense to include my neighborhood, although it seems it wasn't very well represented, judging from the "Kroger aisle" talks I have with people.

problem is that the SAMPLE is not a good one, and we will see this tonight.

The polls have been correct for the UNIVERSE of voters polled, they tend to be older, white and with access to a land line.

Them kids, on cellphones, nobody is sampling them. That is going to be why you are seeing what you are seeing.

It is also historic for another reason. It is breaking a historic trend where the youth vote stays home. Call it a sneaky, but I suspect kids are voting...

You're special, and waiting in line isn't a Republican thing. Cast your ballot on Wednesday, when the lines will be much shorter.

:bounce::woohoo::bounce:

:kick:

That's major. I'm serious. I voted around 8 a.m., after dropping my son off at school, and I wasn't the first on the rolls. Just as I was finishing up, three more people came in. In our teeny-weeny rinky-dink town, that's a traffic jam! Especially in a non-president-electing year. I was impressed.

I had to wait in line, which is unusual for 10:30 am in a mid term election. Parking was a real problem. Lots of different people voting: retirees like us, people with young kids, 30 something professionals. Good ethnic mix (but that reflects the precinct which is VERY liberal).

Lots of commisserating about the other states races. Hoping for Malloy as Gov. Pretty confident that Blumenthal will prevail (there weren't any WWE thugs giving out merchandise!).

Good to see neighbors and chat. I love my neighborhood...

in their WWE garb as mostly college kids, teens and kids watch wrestling. I watched it pretty heavily myself around 1998 to 2002 but I was 20 to 24 years old. Most Linda McMahon voters are conservatives and will not be into the WWE. I know far more about it then my parents do and they voted for her.

Thank you for posting this!
:hi:
:hug:


peace~

I was very surprised.

Its pretty split as far as D's and R's that live here, but my biggest fear older tea party members voting for Rick Scott, Alan West (incumbent is Ron Klein), and Marco Rubio.

bodes well for Hodes & Shea-Porter
fingers crossed

I voted at 3pm and my polling place was active but there were no lines.

Last time I voted in the late morning and was 352. The precinct worker confirmed that turnout was very heavy. :bounce:

you can do one thing VOTE

This deserves it's own discussion! Or a bumper sticker or something... there's no excuse for NOT voting!

first time they've ever had to wait in line to vote, so I guess things were pretty busy there!

both in Philly (different voting divisions). Not sure how that compares to my past experiences (my first time voting in the morning) but I think it's running a bit higher than what would have happened in a regular off-year election. Where I am, I used to be ~ 125ish on slow elections at ~ 5:00 p.m., so if a similar voting pattern had happened in my mother's division by late afternoon, then maybe that is a good sign that she was already close to what would normally be late afternoon numbers, but reached before noon.

This in a 90% DFL stronghold

I am usually within the first ten voters this early in the morning...

I was Clerk (precinct mgr) in a highly affluent area of St. Petersburg today. Just got home after a 17 hour day. We had 619(!!!) voters. It was my first time clerking in this precinct, but I was told by pollworkers who have worked there 5-10 years that they'd never seen anything like it. We had a steady crowd all day. Could barely manage to fit in lunch breaks. And this doesn't include early or mail ballots of course.

Contrast this with another nearby precinct I worked in in the 2006 primary, where we had just over 60 voters the entire day. Unbelievable. And unbelievably tiring.

It's like watching the movie "28 Days Later" the voters caught the stupid and rage virus.