Tag Archives: early voting

early voting

Early Voting Stats Day 1

Democracy rules! On the first day of early voting, my polling place was packed with people waiting to cast their ballot. Either people can’t wait to be done with this election or they feel strongly about their candidates, or both.

On their Twitter feed, the Maryland State Board of Elections reports that a record 125,914 people voted on the first day of early voting. That compares to just 78,409 people who voted on the first day of early voting four years ago–an increase of 60.6%. Statistics for this year are not yet available by county.

As of today, 68,377 have returned absentee ballots out of a total of 196,450 that have been sent out, so 65.2% of absentee ballots are still outstanding. The total number of people who have already voted in Maryland is 194,291.

How does this compare with 2012? There were 153,100 absentee votes four years ago, so we are currently at 44.7% of 2012’s total with Election Day 12 days away. Maryland looks set to blow way past early voting totals from 2012 as we have already reached 28.8% of the 437,600 early votes cast that year. Right now, the total votes cast as a share of the 2012 total of 3,693,600 is just 5.3%, so the vast majority of votes are still to come.

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Montgomery County Board of Elections

Republican Board of Elections Members Violated the Open Meetings Act

According to an opinion by the Open Meetings Compliance Board, the three Republican members of the Montgomery County Board of Elections violated the Open Meetings Act when they held a private conference call. As readers may recall, this call took place during the heated debate over the movement of early voting locations to less Democratic areas in the County.

From the opinion’s conclusion:

We have concluded that three voting members, a majority of the voting members of the elections board, constitute a “quorum” for purposes of the Act such that a conference call among three voting members constituted a meeting subject to the Act. We have recognized that applying the Act’s quorum definition to the elections board is complicated, and this matter posed the unusual circumstance in which the public body’s own definition, when applied, did not secure the public’s right to observe every stage of the public body’s consideration of public business. Although we can see that the board members might reasonably have relied on the bylaws provision when they conducted the board’s business among themselves, we nonetheless find that the conference call violated the Act. We therefore direct the elections board to the acknowledgment requirement in $ 3-211. We have not commented on how the elections board must transact business under the elections laws.

You can read the full letter here:
Open Meetings Compliance Letter on Paul E. Bessel’s Complaint

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Rockville

Early Voting Glitches

Rockville, like Gaithersburg, is currently conducting early voting for its municipal elections. According to a report I received, the City of Rockville is trying out new election systems for the state. A glitch in the system could influence results for Council candidates.

Apparently, only seven of the nine candidates appear on the first page of Council candidates. In order to vote for either of the two on the second page (Clark Reed or Patrick Schoof), voters have to go to the second screen before competing their ballot. Voters may cast up to four votes for city council members.

These sorts of seemingly minor ballot design issues can have a real impact on elections. Indeed, they were at the center of a dispute over a close congressional race in Sarasota, Florida in 2008.

UPDATE: Watch this demo video for the new machines and it will become clear rapidly why this problem occurs.

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turnout

Early Voting: Trick or Treat Edition

Early voting is over but as of 11:30 on Thursday night, the Maryland State Board of Elections has not posted the final numbers on early voting participation. Nevertheless, here are some thoughts as the opening act of this year’s elections come to a close.

1. The Impact of Early Voting is Overrated. Most studies of early voting indicate little effect on total turnout. Unsurprisingly, many early voters are people who would have otherwise participated on Election Day or voted absentee. The latter explains the decline in absentee ballots. EV provides opportunities for both parties but mostly convenience for voters.

2. Many lament that Election Day is not a holiday or we don’t vote on the weekend. Except that early voting dived by roughly 50% on a gorgeous weekend over early voting held on weekdays. Confirmation for political science studies that show zero relationship between free time and propensity to vote.

3. The Case for Republicans: Early voting was supposed to benefit Democrats and it was a bust. Despite an expansion in the days for early voting and number of early voting centers, Republicans have prevented Democrats from any net gains over 2010. And this occurred even though early voting increased and there are far more Democrats than Republicans in Maryland. Republicans increased their rate of turnout to match that of Democrats. Democratic turnout in the big three was terrible.

4. The Case for Democrats: Once the final numbers are released, the final totals will reveal a gain in raw votes for Democrats. Precisely because there are more Democrats, the addition of another 40,000 or so voters will result in the Democrats going into Election Day with a net gain from early voting. As @mdtruth has reported, 2010 turnout predicts 2014 turnout very well, so the lack of a net change is not a big surprise.

5. My Assessment: To the extent that it does matter, the evidence that either party has gained substantially over 2010 is thin. As of the end of Day 7, Republicans had a net gain of less than 2000 ballots over 2010. The number is around 5000 if unaffiliated voters are also included. But the numbers are still down for everyone if you factor in the decline in absentee voting, which is of course not yet complete.

6. But If I Must Pick a Winner: Republicans have more reason to feel pleased. Democrats had hoped that early voting would result in a substantial gain in votes banked in advance of Election Day. That hasn’t happened. And it’s hard to blame it on being a hard year for Democrats, as 2010 was worse. Nonetheless, @mdtruth has it right in that 2014 turnout correlates well with 2010 turnout. Any real impact on the final outcome is unclear and likely small.

I’m traveling this weekend but will see if I can report the final numbers at some point. And “in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good morning, and good night!”

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turnout

Record Early Voting Turnout but Democrats Yet to Benefit

EVGraphBlack = All, Blue = D, Red= R, Purple = Unaffiliated

Early voting hit a new high of 44,718 on Wednesday, easily beating the previous high on the first day of early voting. Moreover, the total number of early voters, 243,386, now exceeds the 219,601 who participated in early voting in 2010.

Democrats Still Net Down from 2010

Contrary to my expectations expressed yesterday, however, the increase in the number of early voters has not yet benefited Democrats. While the number of Democratic early voters has increased by 9,344, the number of Republican early voters is up by 11,110 and unaffiliated voters by 3,301.

Unlike in 2010, when the overall Democratic turnout rate surpassed that of Republicans by 0.85%, Republicans are only 0.02% behind Democrats–a gain for Republicans over yesterday. As of Wednesday night, 7.35% of Democrats had voted compared to 7.33% of Republicans and 3.28% of unaffiliated voters.

Right now, 0.19% fewer unaffiliated voters have cast votes than in 2010–a bright spot for Brown as they are expected to break for Hogan in this election. However, the number of unaffiliated early voters is up because the number of registered unaffiliated voters has risen since 2010.

The following table breaks down the early vote and absentees by county:

early7

As each day’s increase is a smaller percentage of the total, the changes in county rankings unsurprisingly have tended to decrease. In good news for Democrats, Howard and Prince George’s have both jumped one place from yesterday. Montgomery remains dead in the water in 21st place. In Talbot, an incredible 16.27% have voted.

One caution: while the early vote is now up over 2010, the number of absentee votes received remains much lower. While 27,569 absentee ballots have been returned thus far, a total of 87,813 absentee ballots were cast in 2010. So the total of early plus absentee ballots cast in 2014 does not yet exceed the total of the same from 2010. Unless early voting jumps quite a bit tomorrow, that will remain true at the conclusion of early voting.

 

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turnout

People Voting Early. . . Just Not in West MoCo

Today’s Early Vote Takeaways:

  • Early Vote is Very Stable.
  • Democrats will Start Gaining from EV Tomorrow.
  • Western Montgomery Epicenter of Low Turnout.

EVGraph

Black = All, Blue = D, Red= R, Purple = Unaffiliated

Stability is the Story

Early voting remained highly stable on Day 6, rising just a bit over Day 5. The rate of Democratic turnout continues the trend of rising at a miniscule rate above Republican turnout. Right now, 6.04% (122,996) of registered Democrats have voted as compared to 5.97% (56,675) of Republicans and 2.59% (17,030) of the unaffiliated have cast ballots.

The number of registered voters who have voted early in 2014 equals 90.5% of the 2010 total across all days. The total number of Democrats who voted early in 2014 is 87.6% of 2010. The similar figures are 96.8% for Republicans and 93.0% for the unaffiliated. The higher GOP number reflects that they have virtually closed the gap in turnout with Democrats from 2010.

Democrats will Start Gaining Tomorrow

Total early voting turnout should exceed that of 2010 tomorrow. At that point Democrats will start to benefit from the ramp up in early voting despite the lost of their advantage in the rate of turnout. Due to their dominance, Democrats will extend their raw vote advantage over the Republicans.

Here are the Day 6 early vote and absentee totals by county:

early6

But Not as Much as They Might

The gap in turnout between high and low turnout counties continues to grow with the big three Democratic counties all lagging more and more behind the high turnout counties. Except for Howard, I expect every county above the state average in turnout to vote for Hogan. Charles, the only other solid Brown county, is also below the red line.

Western Montgomery Epicenter of Low Turnout

Turnout in Montgomery is especially abysmal, particularly on the west side of the County. Outside of portions of Allegany and Washington Counties, the four legislative districts in western Montgomery have the lowest early voting turnout rates in the State:

2.13% in District 15 (Potomac to Poolesville),
2.20% in District 16 (Bethesda),
2.59% in District 17 (Rockville-Gaithersburg),
2.05% in District 39 (Clarksburg-Germantown-Mont. Village).

Lt. Gov. Brown seems tailor made to appeal to the liberal voters who predominate in this part of the world. Yet, these levels are between 34% and 42% of the statewide rate. The mystery is even greater because education is usually heavily related to turnout and these districts have among the highest share of college graduates and people with graduate degrees in the country.

In short, these are exactly the sort of core Democratic voters that Brown needs to turn out. No wonder he spent yesterday morning at the Bethesda Metro Station greeting people as they entered the escalators. (P.S. Anyone who really fixes these perpetually under construction behemoths would get my vote.)

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turnout

Early Vote Bounces Back

EVgraph5

Black = All, Blue = D, Red= R, Purple = Unaffiliated

Good news. After a weekend off, the early vote bounced back to the second highest yet with 40,081–1.1% of all eligible voters–casting early votes on Monday. A total of 157,884, or 4.3% of all eligible voters, have cast ballots so far. Additionally, 22.297, or 0.6% of all eligible voters, have returned absentee ballots.

Good News for Democrats

The increase in early vote numbers is helpful to Democrats. If  40,000 people turn out each of the next three days, the total number of early voters will rise by around 58,000 over 2010. As Democrats comprise a disproportionate share of registered voters, the increase will likely result in an bump up for the raw votes banked by  Democrats. Even though Democrats seem to have lost most of their early vote turnout advantage from 2010, they still have a good shot at increasing the total votes won through early voting.

Absentee Votes

Today’s table includes absentee ballots as well as early votes, so the rankings are not strictly comparable to yesterday’s table. However, the incorporation of absentee votes does not alter the overall picture greatly. The number of absentee voters is smaller than it used to be thanks to early voting.

early5

Party Breakdowns

The number of registered Democrats (97,777) who have voted early far exceeds the number of registered Republican (45,219) or unaffiliated (13,341) who have cast early ballots. The percentage of registered Democrats edged further above that of Republicans but only by an infinitesimal amount as the gap is now 0.04%.

Republicans and unaffiliated are approaching their 2010 early vote totals at a faster rate than Democrats. While the number of early Democratic voters is 69.7% of their 2010 total voters, Republicans have already reached 77.3% with unaffiliated at 72.8%.

So even though Democrats may benefit from the increase number of voters, as explained above, the closure of the gap with Republicans suggests that they will benefit less than they might and certainly less than they hoped. The poor performance in Montgomery remains especially disappointing to Team Blue, although it is performing better with absentee than early voting.

Doing Best in the Base

Both parties seem to be turning out voters at a higher rate in their base counties. Consider that the rate of registered Democratic turnout exceeds that of Republicans by 1.89% in Baltimore City, 1.46% in Prince George’s, 1.26% in Howard, 1.01% in Montgomery, and 0.39% in Charles. On the other hand, registered Republican turnout exceeds that of Democrats by 1.97% in Talbot, 1.10% in Worcester, 1.10% in Wicomico, 0.56% in Queen Anne’s, 0.46% in Garrett, and 0.45% in Harford.

Turnout in Key Legislative Districts

District 3: 1669 D, 1083 R, 397 U (52.7% D)
District 6: 1992 D, 1120 R, 258 U (58.4% D)
District 8: 1920 D, 1250 R, 274 U (54.9% D)
District 9: 2492 D, 2197 R, 615 U (46.3% D)
District 12: 2770 D, 918 R, 381 U (67.1% D)
District 29: 1172 D, 1187 R, 264 U (44.2% D)
District 30: 3042 D, 2270 R, 690 U (50.5% D)
District 34: 2063 D, 1719 R, 470 U (47.8% D)District 38: 1893 D, 1984 R, 388 U (43.6% D)
District 42: 1673 D, 1118 R, 246 U (53.8% D)

Democrats form a majority of early voters in D3 (Young), D6 (Olszewski v. Salling), D8 (Klausmeier), D12 (Kasemeyer), D30 (Astle), and D42 (Brochin).

The numbers are most dangerous for incumbent Democrats in D29 (Dyson) and D38 (Mathias). In these two districts, more registered Republicans have voted than registered Democrats.

In D9 (Frederic v. Bates) and D34 (James v. Cassilly), the numbers are in between–Democrats are a plurality but not a majority. Del. Mary-Dulany James is probably stronger in D34 because of her long history representing this swing territory and appealing to unaffiliated voters. Del. Gail Bates likely has the edge in D9 for similar reasons.

 

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turnout

Souls Not at the Polls

early4

After Day 4 of early voting, the rate of Democratic turnout finally pulled ahead of the Republicans. But not by much. As of last night at 8pm, 3.58% of Democrats and 3.56% of Republicans had voted. This gap of 0.02% is far smaller than the 2010 gap of 0.85%.

Any effort on Sunday to bring souls to the polls at African-American churches did not have a major impact. The state’s two majority-black jurisdictions–Baltimore City and Prince George’s–had turnout rates below the statewide level. Indeed, Prince George’s dropped one place in the county turnout rankings.

So far, the share of registered Democrats who have voted early is 52.0% of the 2010 number. The equivalent figure is 57.8% for Republicans, and 53.9% for unaffiliated voters.

Interestingly, the ratio of unaffiliated to Democratic turnout is relatively lower than in 2010. As polls show that Brown trails Hogan among independent voters, that would seemingly be good news for the Lt. Governor. Except that the share of unaffiliated voters has increased sufficiently that they are currently closer than the Democrats in reaching their 2010 turnout.

The best news for the Democrats is that Howard, an increasingly Democratic county, jumped three places in the turnout rankings. In contrast, Harford, a Republican bastion, fell three places. But all of this is small beer compared to Baltimore City’s and especially Montgomery’s consistent under performance.

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turnout

GOP Still Keeping Pace in Early Voting

early3Saturday was the third day of early voting (see yesterday’s post on the first two days). Nothing changed from the basic pattern of the first two days with the Republicans continuing to lead the Democrats narrowly in their rate of turnout–unlike in 2010.

The gap in the rate of turnout between the two major parties has declined from yesterday, though only from 0.06% to 0.03%. Statewide, 3.08% of registered Democrats have now voted compared to 3.11% of registered Republicans. Just 1.26% of unaffiliated voters have cast ballots.

The big three Democratic counties have not changed their rank in turnout relative to other counties. The best news for Democrats is that Howard County, home to Democratic Lt. Gov. Nominee Ken Ulman, jumped 1 place. But so did staunchly Republican Harford County.

I received some intelligent feedback regarding yesterday’s post that the Democrats could still be improving over 2010 despite the improved rates of Republican turnout. Since there are so many more Democrats than Republicans, the Democrats could gain in raw vote totals even if the gap in the rate of turnout declines so long as the number of early voters rises.

However, it is not at all clear to me by how much the total number of early voters will increase. While roughly 40,000 voters showed up each of the first two days, under 20,000 voted yesterday. So far, the share of early voters is 46% of the total from 2010. Republicans have turned out 50.5% of their 2010 early vote totals compared to 44.7% for the Democrats.

Changes in the share of registered voters will not greatly benefit either party. The share of registered Republicans has declined by 26.7% to 25.7%, and the share of registered Democrats has fallen from 56.4% to 55.0%. While the Democrats drop is greater in absolute terms, Republicans have lost a higher percentage of their voters.

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