There is a very simple reason to understand why Republicans have worked tirelessly to limit early voting in states; Democrats prefer to use the early voting window and they vote in much larger numbers in early voting. And 2012 is no different … if anything – there are more people voting early and more people voting for Obama if polling is to be believed.
A poll released yesterday by PPP shows that 19% of those polled have already voted early; among those who voted early – Obama holds a 52 point lead of 76 to 24. PPP writes HERE:
The key finding on this poll may be how the early voters are breaking out. 19% of people say they’ve already cast their ballots and they report having voted for Obama by a 76-24 margin. Romney has a 51-45 advantage with those who haven’t voted yet, but the numbers make it clear that he already has a lot of ground to make up in the final three weeks before the election.
Is it any wonder the Republican Ohio Secretary of State – Jon Husted – has petitioned the Supreme Court to block early voting (source). I wish I could properly articulate my level of anger towards this man. I am unable to share my feelings towards this man because it may be construed in violent terms and thus – it is best that I not voice those unhappy feelings. I’m keeping the monster in his cage. But any elected official who willfully tries to block the fundamental right of Americans to vote to the extent which Mr. Husted has gone … he deserves to be sued in court and I wish he could be personally held liable. Yeah – not going to happen but a guy can have a dream.
And it isn’t just in Ohio – Reuters/IPSOS just conducted a poll and found of those who have voted early thus far – they have voted for Obama almost 2 to 1 HERE:
Obama leads Romney by 59 percent to 31 percent among early voters, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling data compiled in recent weeks.
The sample size of early voters is relatively small, but the Democrat’s margin is still well above the poll’s credibility interval – a measurement of polls’ accuracy – of 10 percentage points. (full graphic: bit.ly/RmeEen)
With the November 6 election just more than three weeks away, 7 percent of those surveyed said they had already voted either in person or by mail (full graphic: bit.ly/SWm5YR).
The Huffington Post points out that early voting will make up a larger portion of the total votes than in 2012 HERE:
Early voting — both mail and in-person — is on pace to exceed 2008 levels, when about 30 percent of all votes nationally were cast prior to Election Day. The 2008 levels may be exceeded even further in states such as Iowa and Ohio, where early voting has been brisk. As a corollary, with no collapse in early voting, there is no indication so far that overall turnout, both early and Election Day, will be substantially lower than 2008.
The Huff Po also has this on absentee voting HERE:
Democrats have a big lead in Iowa – as they did in the past two presidential elections. About 60 percent of the 127,100 voters who have cast absentee ballots so far were registered Democrats. Twenty-two percent were Republicans and 18 percent were unaffiliated, according to the United States Elections Project.
In Ohio, a perennial battleground state, Democrats have an edge over Republicans among people who have requested absentee ballots, though relatively few completed ballots have been submitted. Among the 691,000 people who have requested absentee ballots in 49 of the state’s 88 counties, 30 percent are Democrats and 24 percent are Republicans. Forty-six percent are unaffiliated voters, according to data collected by the AP.
This is a great example of conservatives talking down early voting; there is simply NO good excuse to limit early voting. More on that from Media Matters HERE.
