While the election is still officially nearly one month away, in reality it is much, much closer. As in 'the call is coming from inside the house' is closer. Yes, for many of us, the election is here - my husband and I are both registered as permanent vote-by-mail voters.
In San Diego County, ballots to the absentee voters have been mailed out. Voting at the Registrar of Voters office in Kearny Mesa started Monday, and an estimated 200 voters cast their ballots that day .
Just over 60 percent of all the ballots cast in San Diego County in the June election were cast by absentee voters. Five million people statewide, nearly a third of the 16.1 million registered voters in California, are scheduled to receive their ballots by mail .
But what does that do for the late campaigning? We just finally got our No on 8 yardsigns in the mail last week. We get deluged daily with requests for more money to fund the last minute campaigning between now and Election Day. There are all kinds of rumored plans or possibilities for different events in the upcoming months to change media focus and create publicity one way or another. Haven't heard them? Most aren't worth repeating on KPBS' website, but just Google '[candidate] October surprise' and giggle at the results.
But does that last minute push still work with the rise in early voting? If a candidate or issue is leading 55 percent to 45 percent in October, and 30 percent of the voters vote along those lines, the change on momentum must be so profound that of the remaining 70 percent of the voters, nearly 54 percent adopt what was previously the minority position.
michael valentine
from spring Valley
October 07, 2008 at 08:00 PM
I thought that the early voting in the primaries gave the edge to HIllary Clinton. Her early lead in the primary was still holding up while Barack Obama was coming on at the time of the early voting deadline.
This could be why the McCain campaign is going negative hard and early. Like dining early the elderly vote early so you have to hit your opponent when your demographic is making up their minds.
Thanks for the article.
