May 05, 2008
140K New Voters In IN
IN Secretary of State Todd Rokita told reporters today that Indiana is prepared for almost any election day contingency, reports NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan. Rokita compared the state's preparation to a final exam and said that IN election officials had studied hard and prepared well, but that there could always be a "curveball question" that could affect how the vote goes tomorrow.
Some facts to consider on turnout and state preparation:
-- More than 140K people registered to vote in Indiana since the last election, and more than 160K people updated their registrations. The largest surge the state has ever seen.
-- The state received 167,783 absentee ballots by its noon deadline today, marking a "milestone" in absentee participation, Rokita said. Of them, 143,165 requests were for Democratic ballots, while 44,612 requests were for Republican ballots. Servicemen and women living overseas requested 2,200 ballots -- but no word yet about how many of those 2,200 were received in time for the deadline.
-- Since 2004, Rokita estimates that the state has added about 600,000 people to their voter rolls. He said that many counties are preparing as if this were a general election.
-- The state has hired more than 30,000 poll workers to work tomorrow. The average age of those poll workers ... 72. In some counties, 16- and 17-year-olds, who have a GPA of 3.0 or higher, will be working at the polls as part of a state program to recruit more poll workers.
-- 60% of the state will vote on electronic voting machines and 40% percent will use optical scans. If machines break down, poll monitors have field technicians on call who travel with a spare voting machine that can be promptly set up.
-- Election officials do not anticipate running out of ballots. Some larger counties, such as Lake, have printed a ballot for every single voter on the voting roll. (This is pretty unprecedented.) Other smaller counties, have subtracted the number of absentee ballots received and then printed for the rest of the voters.
More after the jump, including info about IN's early poll closings, the state's ID requirement and its freewheeling voting rules for college students.
-- Last week, the Supreme Court held up the state's ID law requirement, which requires voters to show a government-issued ID when they come to vote. But there's a catch. Voters who don't have an ID can still vote with a provisional ballot, but after the primary need to return to the Board of Elections to sign an affidavit verifying their ID. Or they must then show their government- issued ID.
-- Rotika pointed out, however, that IN voters have already gone through four statewide elections with this rule in place. He believes everyone is comfortable with it.
-- The state offered voters who don't have a govt ID to get one for free for a period leading up to the election. Hillary Clinton's campaign staff said they were not busing people to the B of E. Barack Obama's campaign, however, declared that information to be strategic and therefore sensitive and would not comment.
-- College students can vote in Indiana, even if they are from out of state. As in Iowa, they have to declare that Indiana is their home. Rokita said that the law is based on the voter's perception.
-- IN FUN FACT -- Polls in Indiana close early at 6 p.m. Elections officials at each polling site have to designate "a chute," which is about 50-feet from where voters enter the polling area to vote. Anyone who wants to get into vote has to be within the "chute" by 6 p.m. How this area is chosen is arbitrary depending on election monitors. Watch for that to be a possible issue up in Northwest Indiana, which should field a large majority of the Democratic vote and would be likely territory for any lawsuits to keep the polls open longer.
(NBC/NJ's ASWINI ANBURAJAN)
Posted at 07:51 PM
Comments
The "shoot?" Do you mean "chute?"
Hoosier | 05.06.08 01:47 PM
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