Amanda Terkel, HuffPo: Early Reports Point To High Voter Turnout In Urban Areas

[highplainsdem]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/02/high-voter-turnout-urban-areas_n_777640.html

Amanda Terkel

Early Reports Point To High Voter Turnout In Urban Areas

First Posted: 11- 2-10 12:53 PM | Updated: 11- 2-10 12:53 PM


WASHINGTON -- Early anecdotal reports of turnout at polling places indicates higher than expected activity in urban areas, which could bode well for Democrats and undercut the narrative about an enthusiasm gap among progressives.

"I'm in Charlie Rangel's district," wrote Huffington Post reader Andrew H. "I've been voting at about the same time every year for the last twenty years. In a midterm election, I expect to get a voter card number in the low twenties. This morning I got number fifty-seven. This is by far the highest turnout I've ever seen in a midterm." Charlene B. voted at 6:00 a.m. when the polls opened in Harlem and although she said she was the first person in line, by the time she was done 10 minutes later, people were lining up at the door.

Voters in other areas downstate report similar turnout. By 9:00 a.m., there were already 132 voters at a polling place in north Brooklyn near Borough Hall, which Politico's Maggie Haberman calls "an impressively high number that early in the morning for a midterm race." HuffPost reader Tim B. in Brooklyn Heights also reported that when he voted at 10:30 a.m., it was "more crowded than I have ever seen it. ... It's gonna be crazy tonight!"

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Democrats, including President Obama, made an especially aggressive push in the final weeks of the midterm election season to energize young and urban voters who turned out heavily and were instrumental in the party's gains in 2008.

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They're asking that you e-mail "any tips, videos, audio files, and photos" to [e-mail]/ - especially news about "turnout numbers, fishy happenings, last-minute ads and robocalls."