Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Election Day Thread

5:16 p.m.: Interesting exit poll results from CNN. Voters who feel affected by recession favor Clinton, while those who say they are unaffected by recession favor Obama. Voters are almost evenly split on the importance of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright matter. The economy is the issue on voters' minds today. Almost two-thirds identified the economy as the number one issue in this election. Half of Clinton voters in Indiana won't vote for Obama. The numbers for Obama are almost as bad in North Carolina in terms of Clinton voters' willingness to vote for Obama over McCain. I'll be ending updates on this thread and pick back up later tonight when I've had a chance to see some election results.

5:09 p.m.: This is rather interesting. An inspector assigned to work a heavily Democratic precinct near MLK Park was tossed by Beth White's office and not even told. Perhaps when she discovered the party affiliation of the inspector, Green Party, she called Tony Duncan to find someone else. Don't feel bad. I've submitted my name to the Clerk's office on more than one occasion to work election day, and I've never been called on to help out.

5:00 p.m.: FOX News is reporting that turnout in the rural areas of Indiana is soft compared to the heavy turnout in urban areas like Marion and Lake Counties. That's not good news for Clinton if it holds true. Andre Carson tells WTHR he is feeling very confident about his chances today. Woody Myers says the outcome is going to be very close.

3:40 p.m.: Election Journal has been keeping close tabs on election-day activities in the Indiana primary. One of its journalists snapped a photograph of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Schellinger engaging in what appears to be illegal campaigning inside a polling place at the Children's Museum. Schellinger was not there to vote as he votes at a precinct in Washington Township.

2:01: By 1:30 p.m. close to 30% of the registered voters in my Lockerbie precinct had voted. The precinct had received approximately 64 absentee ballots from the Clerk's office. This is definitely looking more like a general election turnout in my precinct. Voters are overwhelmingly picking Democratic over Republican ballots in this swing precinct.

1:10 p.m.: Marion Co. Clerk Beth White is predicting today's turnout will match the turnout in the November 2006 general election, when 1/3 of registered voters turned out. In the last presidential election in 2004, only 20% of the registered voters came out in the primary, and about 54% of registered voters cast votes in the general election. White says voters are overwhelmingly choosing Democratic ballots, even in Republican precincts. White says she doesn't expect to have election results until 8:30 p.m-9:00 p.m.

11:26: The Star is reporting lots of Republican cross-over action within Marion County so far today. "The two precincts at Broad Ripple Family Center selected Republican Jon Elrod over Democrat Andre Carson in March's special election for U.S. Congress. But by 9 a.m., just 21 voters in one of those precincts had requested Republican ballots -- out of 168 cast." This could have a big impact on the outcome in the presidential race and the 7th District congressional race. Not sure how those votes will break down in the presidential race, but this isn't good news for Andre Carson.

From Indiana Daily Insight: "A total of 159,462 Hoosiers had cast absentee ballots in the 2008 Primary Election as of Monday, more than double the number (56,521) in the 2004 primary. To date, 76% of requested absentee ballots have been for the Democratic Party. The 10 counties with the most absentee voters so far: Marion (15,385), Lake (10,953), Monroe (9,689), Vanderburgh (9,395), Allen (8,316), St. Joseph (8,353), Vigo (7,753), Hamilton (5,208), Madison (4,081), and Delaware (3,821)." These numbers are good news for Obama as far as Marion, Lake and Monroe Counties are concerned. The other counties should be good for Clinton and help her offset Obama's margin in Marion, Lake and Monroe Counties.

7:39: "Clerk delivered 50 republican ballots and 800 democrat and the republican ballots have no school board races on them," one observer reports from Warren 7. It's hard to understand how this sort of problem wasn't detected in advance of today. More than 16,000 people voted early either in-person or by absentee ballot. By election day, you expect problems with the ballot to be resolved. The ballots are computer-generated. If a ballot is being generated without candidates for certain offices, then the computer program is messed up.

7:10 a.m.: The Clinton campaign is already lowering expectations in North Carolina. The Drudge Report says the Clinton campaign is bracing for a crushing defeat in North Carolina in the range of 15 points. The message from the Clinton campaign to the media is to stay focused on Indiana where the race is expected to be much closer, but she is still favored to win.

All but two polls opened on time this morning according to Marion Co. Clerk Beth White. One inspector in Ward 1 for the polling place at the IPS school on 10th Street failed to show on time. Another precinct in Warren Township was late opening. Both are up and running. In Perry Township, the Clerk's office failed to include any Democratic ballots for at least two precincts. Ballots are being dispatched to those precincts according to White. Lines quickly formed at many polling places as soon as polls opened.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Pike polling place at Guion Creek Elem. opened about on time. I guess there were 75 to 100 people waiting to get in and vote. It took me about 25 mins for the whole process.

Most people had some sort of photo ID and the clerks were checking for them - expect for mine. I signed the book then asked if they needed to see a photo ID. The guy said oh ya - I forgot to ask.

I am a R but asked for a D Ballot - I was not challenged.

I voted for Hillary, Thompson, Myers at the top of the ticket.

Anonymous said...

Somehow Tippecanoe County is not included there, but we had 11,000 ballots cast as of Sunday evening. Maybe they are not counting the ones cast in person? Bad reporting??

indyernie said...

6Am Warren 4-7 no R ballots, Warren 4-20 no D ballots and both machines were down. Noon still no R ballots at 4-7.

Folks voting across North Warren while wearing Obama tee shirts.

artfuggins said...

Precints in Warren are not numbered 4-7 or 4-20....I suspect someone pulling out legs.

FiniFinito said...

We are getting reports of heavy turnout in South side precincts for Democratic ballots that never vote D. These are heavy Myers support areas too, we are looking good here in the War Room at Myers HQ. Anybody wants to help us make calls to get out the vote can do so from home by calling into our automated phone banking system. Call me at 687-0707 for details.

Joh

Bart Lies said...

I'm surprised that our Clerk has announced 'overwhelmingly choosing Democratic ballots'. I don't see that as proper any more than announcing early vote counts before all states' polls are closed in a national election.

SW Lane said...

Thanks for all the updates, Gary

Anonymous said...

This is too funny! I did the exact opposite--I almost always chose a Democrat ballot but today I chose a Republican ballot. I wanted to have a part in trying to get Dan Burton OFF the ballot in November! I guess we'll see how that went when the results come in.

Bart Lies said...

Any GPS trackers following the 7th's precinct voting machine memory cards around town tonight? Just curious where they're parking and waiting and doing whatever else goes on in the hours between leaving the polling place and being turned in.

Jon E. Easter said...

Beth's performance this election is much better than the performance of her predecessor in a similar election in 2004.

And, don't submit your name to the election board to help unless you want to be an inspector. Submit it to the parties. The parties determine the clerks and judges at the PC level.