Yeah, yeah, yeah. The polls show that Early Voters are leaning Dem, in some states pretty hard. In states that have and release demographic and party data, the early voters are largely Dems and disproportionately African American.
But the Republicans are right about one thing; you can only vote once. Maybe those voters are people who would have voted on Election Day, so their votes don't really mean anything.
Or do they?
More below ...
The early votes might be an indication of voter sentiment. Or of enthusiasm. But so what?
Actually, there are two consequences.
First, the lines on Election Day will not be as bad as they would have been. There probably will be very long lines, but not nearly as long as they would have been without the massive Early Voting. That is good for Democrats because in this Election all the Dem. candidates will benefit from a high turnout, and more votes with shorter lines is great news for turnout.
But the second reason is the more important. Imagine a precinct with 400 plus voters on the Dem side. There is a precinct organization that has to contact those 400 voters, 3 times, at 10 AM, 2 PM and 5 PM. It doesn't matter how many supporters a candidate has; all that matters is how many actually vote. But if one-third of them voted early, that Precinct organization has one-third of its work done before it starts. (Doesn't it make the job easier for the Republican volunteers as well, one might ask. It would, but there are very, very few of them this year.) And if there is a volunteer in the polling place, marking off the voters when they vote, the job gets easier as the day goes on.
So don't just gloat over the early voting figures. Do something with them. Use those numbers to get out the vote, more efficiently and effectively than ever before.
there are millions out working for Obama, and millions more working for down ballot Democrats. Join them. And rejoice in your efficiency.