Take heart

in line to support president bush....not

There has been a massive, as in unprecidented, turnout across the country for early voters and not just in swing states. While some of these people are obviously supporting Bush, many are not.

So everyone who's got that nagging doubt about voter supression and Bush stealing the election, take heart.

This story is from North Carolina


One Stop voting ends with records smashed throughout the region
BY ERIC FERRERI and Eric Olson : The Herald-Sun
eferreri@heraldsun.com
Oct 30, 2004 : 11:10 pm ET

DURHAM -- Matthew Ward awoke Saturday at 8 a.m., a breach in college student etiquette he figured was excusable given his plans for the day.

The UNC junior voted in a presidential election for the first time ever Saturday, and it's a good thing he got up as early as he did. He still wound up waiting in line for about 90 minutes, doing some assigned class reading while shuffling through a slow-moving line at the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, one of three early voting sites in Orange County.

Ward stood in a line that snaked far out the door and down the steps, reaching almost to the McCorkle Place quadrangle nearby. Some voters there reported standing in line for more than two hours.

"It was worth the wait," Ward said.

In Orange County, about one-third of the county's 95,570 registered voters took advantage of the early vote option. It was a scene mirrored all over the region. Many people said they chose to vote early because it was easier than going to the polls on Tuesday, a workday.

400% Durham County jump

With more than 46,000 One Stop, No Excuses voters, Durham County shattered the mark of 10,600 people who voted early in the 2000 presidential election, Durham County Board of Elections Director Mike Ashe said.

"That is roughly a 400-percent increase," Ashe said. "My thoughts are, 'Isn't this wonderful.' I still think we're going to have long lines and a huge, huge turnout on Tuesday."

One Stop voters waited in line on average about 20 minutes throughout the 17 days of early voting, and for most the wait was under an hour, Ashe said.

The first day of voting, Oct. 14, saw about 1,200 N.C. Central University students show up to vote at Hillside High School. Faced with a wait of hours to cast their ballots, many of the students returned to campus without voting that day.

"For 17 crazy solid days, to have these people work all day, One Stop went off without a hitch," Ashe said. "It is awesome. We had no protests and no substantial challenges or accusations. I'm very, very pleased with One Stop and I hope the community is, too."

Nearly a third of the 152,719 registered Durham County voters cast their ballots during the early voting period.

"We have a lot of young people voting, which I have never seen before," Ashe said. "I think it's wonderful."

They will not know what hit them on Wednesday.

Sure, they pay lip service to democracy, but they never expected to face it.

Americans are neither stupid nor sheep and they can act in what they think are their best interests.

George Bush has no room for us in his America. Only him and his cronies and his cult. Bush wants to be worshiped, regardless of the consequences. I can only hope that people see him for what he is and send the lifetime failure packing so we don't have to live through any more of his mistakes.

posted by Steve @ 4:28:00 AM