More than two million people had voted in North Carolina by Thursday night, with yesterday and today expected to be the busiest days of the early-voting period. Saturday hours have been extended to 5PM in many counties, including Guilford.
Turnout is expected to reach 70% by the end of Election Day, breaking the NC record set in 1984.
As incredible as a 70% turnout may be for North Carolina, Republicans would rather have fewer people show up and vote for some reason. Turns out they are quite upset with the extended hours for early voting on Saturday.
Let me put this as bluntly as I can: When you side believes that FEWER people should show up to vote instead of more, you deserve to lose. No ifs ands or buts. This is how out of touch the right is with America.
Posted by: Ged | Nov 01, 2008 at 09:38 AM
From Ged's article: "Under state law, Democrats control the 100 county elections boards because the governor is a Democrat."
Man, republicans are shooting themselves in the foot (feet?) at every turn. Reading of Republican objections to extending early voting and now this new law, of which I was previously unaware, has me reconsidering my planned vote for McCrory.
Posted by: Roch101 | Nov 01, 2008 at 10:28 AM
Orange County isn't extending hours today. Lines there have been busy, but never long. Looks like more than 50 percent of those registered will have voted early, which is very interesting because it suggests most of those newly registered college-age kids are voting.
Posted by: justcorbly | Nov 01, 2008 at 10:34 AM
McCrory.
Don't do it Roch. The PacMan will get to name members of the Public Utilities Commission. Which means Duke Energy will get to name members of the Public Utilities Commission. If you have a green bone in your body, voting for Pat McCrory will break that bone into smithereens.
Posted by: James Protzman | Nov 01, 2008 at 10:47 AM
James, thanks. I'll do a little more research. In a year where Dems should have a natural advantage with me, I've found Purdue uninspiring, even off-putting. Maybe I'll go with Munger just to help the L's stay on the ballot.
Posted by: Roch101 | Nov 01, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Excellent touchstone, Ged !!!
Posted by: RBM | Nov 01, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Junior Johnson blogging at BlueNC for Barack Obama today.
Posted by: James Protzman | Nov 01, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Another story about early voting, another cover-up of illegal voting by ACORN and their duplicate minority.
Keep up the good work Ed. Keep that truth as far away from the surface as possible. Anything for Hussein's socialist paradise that you and your lunatic fringe demand.
Posted by: Big L | Nov 01, 2008 at 01:06 PM
wish I would have know more about Munger before going to the booth. After hearing him on WUNC yesterday morning...he didn't sound very Libertarian. Perdue is indeed very uninspiring....and I'm hoping there's enough green in the state house and senate to keep any McCrory shenanigans to a minimum.
Posted by: newtogso | Nov 01, 2008 at 01:25 PM
The Republicans have a valid point on this. In principle, we should have voting open as long as possible to ease everyone's opportunity to vote. What we should be concerned about, however, is the extensions being granted on a selective basis, especially when there are partisan election boards. Although there's no evidence right now that polling hours are being manipulated to benefit one party over another, one could certainly imagine this happening.
County boards should have the flexibility to extend early polling in response to serious, unexpected circumstances, such as weather problems, machine failures, unexpected turn-out etc. However, the allowable types of circumstances along with trigger levels (e.g., weather that interferes with voting for so many days, so many machine failures for so many days, and so on) should be specified in advance.
As an aside, Roch isn't the only one considering a vote for McCrory.
Posted by: Dave Ribar | Nov 01, 2008 at 02:08 PM
I'd love to know how ACORN is supposed to manipulate the vote in North Carolina Big L. When I went to vote, the volunteers looked me up on the computer, printed my voting key sheet and sent me about my business. If I tried to show up at another polling place and vote twice, I wouldn't be allowed. Please explain to me how duplicate votes are being cast OR how Mickey Mouse registrations transfer into fraudulent votes. I'd love to hear the explanation.
Posted by: Ged | Nov 01, 2008 at 03:43 PM
Lunatic fringes look purty with a pair of spike heels.
Posted by: Ishmael | Nov 01, 2008 at 05:50 PM
My column on Munger here.
Posted by: Ed Cone | Nov 01, 2008 at 06:55 PM