What’s the matter with Georgia? [CORRECTED]
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008A story recently posted by the AJC says the unimaginable: that statewide voter turnout for this election was lower than it was in 2004. Although there are nearly a million more potential voters than there were four years ago and the actual number of ballots cast was higher, the turnout was only 74 percent, compared to 77 percent in 2004. How could that be, when election officials were predicting a 85 percent turnout?
Well, UGA political science professor Charles Bullock, an expert on voting issues, admits it’s a surprise to him, given that voter turnout across the country was the highest it’s been in a century. However, Bullock says that if state officials based their Election Day expectations on early-voting numbers, it’s no shock that the reality fell short.
“Early voting has been shown not to increase overall turnout,” he says. “It’s often simply a reallocation of votes.”
