Early voting draws more than 200K voters
Democratic leaders were so enthusiastic about the 219,000 Marylanders who participated in the six-day early voting program that Friday there was already talk of expanding it.
Gov. Martin O’Malley, who was campaigning in Rockville, said that he’d like to look at adding more locations there and in neighboring Prince George’s County — where voters stood in line to cast ballots.
The program, which ended Thursday, attracted 6.3 percent of eligible voters and was far more popular than the early voting period for the primary election which only drew 2.4 percent or 77,000 participants.
Democrats cast 64 percent of total early votes, outstripping their voter 56 percent registration advantage. Republicans cast 27 percent of the vote — slightly better than their 26 percent registration, according to the state board of elections. Absentee returns are following that trend, with 65 percent of the vote-by-mail cast by Dems and 27 cast by GOP so far.
Political watchers warned not to read too much into early voting numbers, as The Sun reported earlier this week. Actual results will not be tallied until election day. But that didn't stop partisans from celebrating.
Susan Turnbull, the chairwoman of the state Democratic party, said she was “very pleased” with the participation levels. “These votes are in the bank,” she said. “We don’t have to concentrate on those people,” she said.
Voting picked up as the days went on, with Thursday by far the most popular day at the polls.
Prince George’s county residents cast the most early votes, with 38,500 participating. Baltimore County took second place with 31,000 voters turning out early.
Gov. Martin O’Malley, who was campaigning in Rockville, said that he’d like to look at adding more locations there and in neighboring Prince George’s County — where voters stood in line to cast ballots.
The program, which ended Thursday, attracted 6.3 percent of eligible voters and was far more popular than the early voting period for the primary election which only drew 2.4 percent or 77,000 participants.
Democrats cast 64 percent of total early votes, outstripping their voter 56 percent registration advantage. Republicans cast 27 percent of the vote — slightly better than their 26 percent registration, according to the state board of elections. Absentee returns are following that trend, with 65 percent of the vote-by-mail cast by Dems and 27 cast by GOP so far.
Political watchers warned not to read too much into early voting numbers, as The Sun reported earlier this week. Actual results will not be tallied until election day. But that didn't stop partisans from celebrating.
Susan Turnbull, the chairwoman of the state Democratic party, said she was “very pleased” with the participation levels. “These votes are in the bank,” she said. “We don’t have to concentrate on those people,” she said.
Voting picked up as the days went on, with Thursday by far the most popular day at the polls.
Prince George’s county residents cast the most early votes, with 38,500 participating. Baltimore County took second place with 31,000 voters turning out early.
Comments
That's great! I'm just glad that none fo the early voters will try to vote again on 11/2, or that any of them used identification of deceased voters, or that any of them were felons who are not allowed to vote, or that any of them were CRIMINAL aliens who, not only should be in the USA, but who also should never be allowed to vote.
Posted by: HarlanR | October 29, 2010 7:01 PM
Susan Turnbull, the chairwoman of the state Democratic party, said she was “very pleased” with the participation levels. “These votes are in the bank,” she said. “We don’t have to concentrate on those people,” she said.
Wow, is that all the democratic party cares about? a vote? How about concentrating on making things better instead .
Posted by: Shawn | October 29, 2010 7:51 PM
This time around Democratic voters may have a surprise in store for Maryland incumbents. More of us are center thinkers, in contrast to our far left "representatives."
Posted by: non_elite | October 30, 2010 5:57 AM
I'm not sure why democrats are so excited about so many of their own participating in early voting. I know several people who are democrats, voted early and cast their votes for candidates other than democrats. Just because democrats voted early doesn't mean they're guaranteed votes for democrats. Indeed, the early voters I know were just as cheesed off with how things are going state and country wide as every one else and couldn't wait to make their voices heard.
Posted by: brstevens | October 30, 2010 8:02 AM
Though Democrats turned out to Vote Early that does NOT mean they voted Democratic Madame Turnbull! @Harlan, former felons can vote upon their completion of any court ordered sentence, i.e. parole/probation. And most will probably Vote 4 Ehrlich, the only candidate for Governor who did NOT lock up thousands of innocent blacks unjustly, who later were released w/o any charges,yet marks on their criminal record!
Posted by: MrGiordano | October 30, 2010 5:01 PM
These Ehrlich comments are so childish, why would we want to let these people back in? Each party is holding its own base from the polls. The independents may be leaning slightly to Ehrlich, but that
won't affect the race due to the size of the Democratic vote.
Posted by: Bruce Whistler | October 31, 2010 1:18 PM
I'm afraid they know what they are talking about. Why? Because they have been implementing their ground game for 2 weeks now, using early voting to cram the ballot box with their votes to keep the big spenders in power. Not illegal, as long as it is done fairly. But you can bet they carried newly registered voters back and forth to the polls for the entire time, knowing they will vote the way they were instructed when they had help filling out their registration papers. Democrat politicians have NO respect for the voter, knowing they will believe anything they are told by the Democrat operatives. This exact behavior will give us four more years of Obama if we don't wake up and get a ground game going of people who understand what is going on.
Posted by: EBA | November 1, 2010 9:40 AM