Politico: In 2004, one out of every five Americans voted early, and if reports so far this year are any indication, an even larger proportion will wake up on Nov. 4 with their ballots already cast. More than 30 states —including most of the key swing states that will decide the race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain — allow their citizens to vote early, whether by mail or in person.
In Georgia, almost 800,000 votes have been cast so far — already more than the tally in 2004 with over a week to go. By Thursday morning in North Carolina, more than 750,000 people had voted since the polls opened a week ago.
Nevada, where more than half of all voters cast early ballots four years ago, kicked off voting last weekend and ramped up access to early polling sites in such places as supermarkets and libraries.
"We've expanded early voting this cycle and increased the number of locations and number of hours in anticipation of record turnout, trying to drive as many people as possible to the early voting locations," said Secretary of State Ross Miller, who prefers early voting and expects only 40 percent of the votes in his state to be cast on Election Day.
If previous elections are any indication, analysts said, the swell of early voting will only increase ahead of Nov. 4.
"If these numbers stay as they are right now, and we match patterns we've had in the past, we've yet to see the wave crest in early voting," said Michael McDonald, a professor at George Mason University and a consultant to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission who compiles data on early voting. ... So far, it appears that the Obama campaign's drive to get people to the polls in October is paying off, at least according to data from several swing states that track voter demographics: More than 55 percent of early voters in Georgia were female, for instance, and more than 35 percent were African-American; in North Carolina, fewer than a third of those who voted early identified themselves as Republicans; and more than 60 percent of first-day early voters in Clark County, Nev., were Democrats.
"These numbers are really astounding — they defy all the patterns of early voting we've seen in this modern era," McDonald said. Based on past elections, he explained, "The early electorate tends to be more Republican in their character than the Election Day electorate."
