WSJ:
Down in the polls and with their majorities in Congress at risk, Republicans say they have some good news in early-voting statistics that suggest their voter-turnout machine is providing an edge in some tight races.WORST CASE SCENARIO: This, in-and-of-itself, probably doesn't give us the victory; it probably just balances out the Dem zombie vote! Heh.
If the trend holds, it could mean that early voting is growing -- and continuing to benefit Republicans, who exploited the practice in the 1990s. Experts say early voters could be a bigger factor this year when overall voter turnout could be lower than in 2004, a presidential-election year. ... Early voting has grown in the past 15 years, from around 2% of the national electorate participating to about 20% in 2004, said R. Doug Lewis, executive director of the Election Center in Houston, a nonprofit group. Experts predict this year that 19% to 25% of the electorate will vote early at the polls or by mail-in absentee ballots. That compares with about 14% in 2002, the most recent midterm election.
Republicans have had an advantage with early-voter turnout over Democrats because of better party funding and organization, according to Paul Gronke, director of the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College in Oregon, a state where traditional Election Day polling has been eliminated altogether in favor of voting by mail. "I suspect it will still be their advantage," he said.
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