It was written:
>>>Michael Pollak comments on the contrast between the Republican and
Democratic Parties' GOTV efforts described by Matt Bai (at
<http://www.zonaeuropa.com/01496.htm> and
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/magazine/21OHIO.html>):
>>They really did beat us because their organizing model beat our
>>organizing model. But the worse thing is: their organizing model
>>feels right to their kind of volunteers, but it wouldn't feel right
>>to ours. It fits their model of the family, of community, of
>>enterprise, of the army. Our side loves chaos and newness, the >>Dean model and the ACT model. That's what makes us feel fulfilled >>and excited. But their model simply beat our model, head to head, >>on our best day.
>Yoshie F:
>It wasn't just the contest of new versus old, chaos versus order. >It looks to me that the Republican Party's model -- relatively >speaking, within the limits of top-down organizing required by the >parties of the ruling class -- was more partisan, more committed to >the party's presidentially candidate, far better organized, more >participatory, and (most importantly) far more >local-volunteer-driven than the Democratic Party's.>>>>>>
We can get more specific than that. The Republicans used absentee ballots, advanced voting, and the modified open primary of Ohio to win the popular vote nationwide and the electoral college (with Ohio being the state that brought it in).
1. Since the Florida election controversy of 2000, both parties have realized the importance of 'absentee' ballots--mail-in ballots for anyone who claims that they can't be present to vote. My analysis is that the Republican Party made very effective use of absentee ballots in 2000 to win Florida, and in 2004 to win Florida, Ohio, and even, surprise, West Virginia. In some states (like Ohio), voter registration lists are in effect mailing lists for the two parties. And the Republicans have redoubled their efforts to obtain the lists of people applying for absentee ballots.
2. The Republicans used the modified open primary in Ohio to swell their contact base of potential voters in spring 2004. There nearly 800,000 votes were cast in spring 2004 for the only Republican candidate, the incumbent Bush. The Republican primary in Ohio in the spring was used basically as a Republican Party registration drive of unaffiliated and independents.
3. It seems to me 'advanced' voting also worked a lot like absentee ballots in favor of the more organized party. More reading on this is necessary though.
So the media spent more time on conspiratorial use of e-voting and voter suppression, but most haven't done any real close analysis of just how the Republicans won both votes with more votes.
(Note cited stories cover the period 2000-2004.)
http://www.detnews.com/2004/politics/0410/15/c09-304504.htm
With Bush and Kerry running neck and neck in recent state polls, both sides are pursuing every avenue to get their supporters to cast a vote. Absentee voting is one more option.
Voters seem amenable to the idea. Although the Secretary of Statefs office doesnft know how many absentee ballots have been turned in so far, some local clerks already are seeing evidence that absentee balloting could be heavy.
http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4789004/19461724.html [This story is about heavy use of absentee ballots during 2002.]
"I think it's going to be a big part of the election process this year," Mauro said. "Both parties are pushing it heavily."
Linn County Auditor Linda Langenberg called the number of absentee ballot requests "unbelievable." The county had 11,000 absentee ballots in the last gubernatorial election. This year, the Cedar Rapids office already has sent out 13,374 - about 1,300 to 1,400 a day.
"It's just been huge," Langenberg said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/09/08/RECALL.TMP&nl=top [This is about how absentee ballots were used to put Arnie into the governorship of CA.]
Mass mailings aimed at absentee voters Mark Simon, Chronicle Political Writer Monday, September 8, 2003
Voting begins today in California's unprecedented recall election.
Starting now, any of the state's 21.4 million registered voters can walk into the offices of his or her county elections official, ask for an absentee ballot and cast the first votes.
The growing popularity and political significance of absentee voting has prompted both recall-related campaigns and replacement candidates to expend time and money targeting absentee voters who will be making their decisions in the five weeks before the Oct. 7 election.
In a special election with high voter interest and a too-close-to-call outcome, several million pieces of campaign mail are scheduled to be sent this week to voters who have opted to cast ballots permanently by absentee and to likely voters who can be pushed to make an early decision.
"There's no question the election starts this week," said Rob Stutzman, spokesman for Republican actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose campaign will be mailing 2.8 million pieces this week targeted at absentee voters.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=184541&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. Oct 21, 2004 ? Like fishing in a stocked pond instead of an ocean, politicians are trying to catch votes by targeting phone calls and fliers at voters who have already applied for absentee ballots.
Under laws well known to political strategists but perhaps not to the public, candidates in some states can ask local election officials for lists of people who have requested absentee ballots and then campaign directly to them.
The tactic could make a critical difference in this tight election year, especially given the fact that absentee voters are highly likely to cast their ballots. The strategy is playing out in several swing states that could decide the presidential election, including Ohio and Missouri.
"It's Campaign Handbook 101," said elections expert Richard Smolka, a retired political science professor from American University. But "if anything, I think it's probably increased as the number of absentee ballots has been increasing."
GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Ahead in Wash. The Note Democrats Vie for Party Chair In Missouri, the practice has come under fire by Democrats upset by a renewed Republican effort to contact absentee voters.
Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt the chief election official and the GOP candidate for governor sent a campaign letter to county clerks asking them to provide the names of absentee ballot applicants to the state Republican Party.
The state party has been calling those absentee voters with a pitch for President Bush, Blunt and the rest of its candidates.
"It's part of our overall strategy of get out the vote," said state Republican Party spokesman Paul Sloca, who declined to say how many absentee voters had been called.
But the Missouri Democratic Party compares it to the illegal practice of campaigning inside a polling place on Election Day.
"They're not allowing absentee voters to cast their votes in private," said Missouri Democratic Party spokesman Jack Cardetti. "They are, in essence, invading the polling places."
Missouri's Democratic and Republican candidates for secretary of state each have proposed to end the campaign practice by closing absentee voter lists statewide.
Yet while the Missouri Democratic Party complains, its counterpart in Ohio is daily gathering absentee voter applications from all 88 counties so its candidates can send campaign materials to Democratic or independent voters.
"Having a (campaign) piece go out to absentees when they apply is fairly effective," said Ohio Democratic Party spokesman Dan Trevas. But he added that "you have to do it right way" before they can cast the ballot.
The Ohio Republican Party is doing almost exactly the same thing.
"The goal is to find out who is requesting an absentee ballot and, hopefully, get them some information that may be helpful in nudging them toward voting for Republicans," said Ohio GOP spokesman Jason Mauk.
Getting absentee voter lists is relatively easy in states such as Ohio and Illinois, where the records are open to the public. JoAnn Thomas, the county clerk in Peoria, Ill., keeps an updated list on an office counter where "anyone can come in and look at it at anytime." Many people do, she said.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2105524
But it is in the "low-tech area" of absentee ballots, as Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede puts it, "that things get really funky." Most critically, Hood and Gov. Bush have championed a new state law that abolishes Florida's longtime requirement that absentee ballots be witnessed. While some other states, like California, do not require witnesses, no state has Florida's history of institutional vote fraud.
Indeed, election fraud in Florida long precedes the 2000 debacle. In some counties it extends all the way back to the early days of Florida's statehood, in 1845. Florida's political culture derives from several different regions?the north, near Georgia, has more in common with the southern part of the United States; the south with Latin America?so election fraud tends to differ in the two regions. In the northern part of the state, for example, sheriffs have been known to let certain boxes of ballots?thought to be unfavorable to a particular politician?fall out of their squad cars and tumble into the Gulf of Mexico. In the south, notably Miami-Dade, a remarkable number of dead people have been known to rise up and make it to the polls. In 1998, Miami's mayoral election of Xavier Suarez was overthrown for a host of irregularities, including the fact that a man named Manuel Yip, who had died four years earlier, had voted for Suarez. (In fact, it was the fourth time he had voted since his death in 1994.)
But most of the fraud that has dogged Florida centers on absentee ballots. In the mayoral election mentioned above, approximately 5,000 absentee ballots were found to be fraudulent. Some folks were unaware they had voted, some did not live in Miami, and (naturally, being Florida) some were dead. In addition, many of the ballots had the same witness. One Miami vegetable peddler had witnessed more than 70 absentee ballots. And some of the city's poorest had been paid $10 to vote for Suarez. Without the state's witness requirement, officials would never have been able to prove that the absentee ballots were bogus. Buying ballots is another current problem. In 1998, an election volunteer was caught selling ballots to undercover agents. And just last week, the Cuban exile columnist Max Lesnik reported that absentee ballots were being sold on Miami's Calle Ocho for $25 apiece.
http://www.monmouthlp.com/suit/decision.txt
Specifically, each of New Jersey's 21 counties maintains voter registration information in computer databases and produces voter registration lists indicating the party affiliation ("R" or "D") or "Independent" status of registered voters. These lists are publicly available for purchase at a nominal charge.9 Recognized political parties do not, however, have to pay for voter registration lists; rather, N.J.S.A. 19:31-18.1 (a) directs each county to provide the lists, free of charge, to the county and state chairs of recognized political parties.10
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=14857
Under current law, only the Democratic and Republican parties qualify as "official parties." As a result, only those two parties have free access to county registration lists, which give the names and addresses of voters who chose to register as members of their party.
For a third party like the Libertarians or the Reform Party to qualify for these benefits, their candidates would have to attract 10% of the votes in an election for the state Legislature. Only then would they get free access to such lists.
Parrillo held that other groups are entitled to be considered a political party for the limited purposes of the party declaration forms and state-compiled voter-registration lists.
Denial infringes on the equal-protection, free-speech and association rights of smaller parties, he found.
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_11/b3672071.htm
As of 1999, only 27% of Americans identified themselves as Republicans. Nearly 40% of the electorate considers itself independent or ''other.'' Party loyalty is waning on both sides, and no GOP standard-bearer has captured more than 42% of the popular vote in the last two Presidential elections. Supply-siders and conservative Christians might have a firm hold on Republican Party strings, but they're no good at picking winners--a point McCain drove home in Virginia on Feb. 28, when he assailed the Religious Right for its ''politics of division.'' Whether they support McCain or not, if GOP moderates want to recapture the White House, they would be better off pushing the party to keep the primaries open.
For two decades, Republicans endorsed open primaries as a way to build a Big Tent by wooing indies and conservative Dems to the nominating process. The hope was that the newcomers would stick with the party for the general election and vote the ticket. The strategy worked, helping the GOP win control of state legislatures across the south.
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P04/OH-R.phtml
Ohio Republican Presidential Nominating Process Primary: Tuesday 2 March 2004 Candidate Popular Vote Delegate Votes Hard Total Floor Vote Bush, George W. 777,972 100.0% 91 100.0% Uncommitted 91 100.0% (available) Total 777,972 100.0% 91 100.0% 91 100.0%
http://bill.simonifamily.net/archives/2004/03/02/ohio_has_open_primaries.html
Ohio is one of the Super Tuesday primary states, so I stopped by my freshly-moved polling location earlier today. I freely admit that on the past I have been somewhat poor in voting in the primaries. But, I did vote in last year's primary. It just so happens that last year there were no offices being contested in my precinct, just issues and taxes.
Inside the polling location was a sign that said, "You must disclose your politics." I wondered why...in Pennsylvania I was just handed the proper ballot for my party affiliation. Well, in Ohio you get whichever ballot you want. You just tell the poll worker 'your politics', she writes a 'D' or 'R' next to your name, and a ballot is pulled from one of the two piles on the table. I guess you can't vote if you want to declare Independent or as a member of a smaller party - at least there wasn't a third pile readily visible for just the issues. Maybe you get a full ballot and just don't mark votes for the offices. (Yes - we get a paper ballot with ovals and a Sharpie? to fill them in.) I wish I had thought to ask.
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