Letter to the Editor
Missing voters
Published Monday, November 10, 2008
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To the editor:
It was Thursday night when the articles started to appear. From bloggers to Anchorage Daily News and even the Washington Post. “Something’s not right in Alaska.” Why is it that we are the only state not only without all-time highs in voting records but instead all-time lows? Why did none of the election results match the polls from a week before, or even begin to come close?
Sure, we have 50,000 more votes to count, but the results as they stand just don’t add up. I was appalled as I read article after article and was interested to see how the News-Miner would cover this story on Friday. No such luck — I couldn’t find anything. This is news about Alaska that has made it to national news and most of Fairbanks is in the dark. It’s bad enough that the votes seem to be going awry, but must the Daily News-Miner follow in their footsteps?
Community Discussion
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ay ay Laurel.
Twin mysteries...polls being so far off from the actual results and surprisingly low turnout. Both surprising and depressing.
It's not surprisingly low. The letter contains a couple of errors. First, Alaska's turnout wasn't that exceptional when you compare it to other states and cities.
New York City, for example, saw voter turnout barely above 2004 levels (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/nyregi...). And that's in a city/region with a large black population likely to be influenced by the historic nature of Obama's candidacy.
Second, turnout wasn't that low. When you count all the questioned ballots, absentee ballots, and early votes, state turnout for this election is going to be less than 5,000 votes under 2004's all-time record. It's plainly ludicrous to compare 2004 voter totals -- which include all those categories -- with plain old turnout on Election Day. You're comparing apples to wrenches.
Third, you've got the fact that McCain gave his concession speech a full 40 minutes before Alaska polls closed, which no doubt capped a day of coverage that saw Obama pretty much guaranteed his election as soon as Ohio and Pennsylvania were cast as wins for him.
Yes, we did have the unique nature of Palin's position on the vice presidential ticket and we had some hotly contested local and congressional races -- but I'd argue that those races only kept turnout from being _worse_ than it could have been.
Use your noggin here.
Maybe folks opposed to Obama, Stevens, and Young just stayed home because they didn't like their other options, or didn't feel their vote would matter (in the case of the Presidential election).
Maybe the Anchorage Daily News did not do Anchorage people a favor by announcing you would have to wait in line for hours in the morning and by the time they got off of work the election had been determined. Even here in Fairbanks, one local radio was reporting that people on their way to work in the morning were facing waiting in line to vote. Alaskans will put up with alot of things, but waiting in a line isn't one of them.
Lines do not explain the SLOOOOOOOW counting of the ballots. What's the problem?
UAF has a Cray, maybe it could be used for elections so the count wouldn't depend on election workers having to remove their shoes and socks to get past 20.
Darfur - Hah! That is most definitely the truth!
Initial tallies in my district showed voter turnout at above 53 percent.
The point of this letter is that there appears to be voter fraud in the Alaskan voter system. It would be helpful to have some numbers - what states had an all-time high? Did Alaska really have an all-time low voter turnout?
Anyone have the numbers? Otherwise, this is just unfounded speculation.
Until the [O]fficial count of the [E]lectorate by the United States Congress is complete in January. there is no new president.
At that time Each State has the right to question/obect/ and move for investigation of any discrepancies....
There may perhaps even be a legal motion filed to postpone until the outcome of the lawsuit filed in Hawaii Federal Court questioning
[S]enator Obama's Citizenship Status, which is schedualed to be heard that same day.
If the findings are unfavorable for [S]enator Obama, then there will be some major problems because of the [D]isenfranchised voters and campiegn fraud involved.
Overall, with the State of Hawaii backing the originator of this suit, Due to the Fact they posess {N]ot only the [O]riginal Vault Copy, but [A]ll three, and this means that "Stanley Amm Dunham"
never went to the problem of aquireing one.
There could be further problems here, the certificate, because it is in the possession of the State of Hawaii could indicate his birth to be in another Country, this would logcally explin why he has not provided it yet, and why there was no mention in the wording of Hawaiian officials.
Or, there could be a variad of other problems!
Personally, I want to know, and have e-mailed [O]ur Lt.Gov.Sean Parnell on the subject of Legal qualification for presidential office, as one of his
[D]uties is to oversee, and monitor the Alaska voting system.
According to what I could gleen from out State election Laws, All one must do is sign a statement that at the time of election they [w]ill be eligible... I do not see anywhere where they are require to provide proof of eligibility for [A] office prior to the election, or [S]pecifically prior to having thier names placed on the ballot.
I do see that all candidates do have to sign in in person though,
When was [S]enatore Obama in Alaska???
Anyone???
Food for thought...
The numbers I saw puts the vote about 14% below 2004, but this is from a few days ago:
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/w...
Here's an interesting regression of the votes left to be counted as well:
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/u...
It is possible that many felt they were unsure if they should support Ted or Don, looked at the other choices (they did not represent their opinions or values) and said I will just stay at home and remain loyal to my past voting history.
Bobeaux, it's taking a while to count the absentee and early votes because the state discovered that a couple dozen people voted both absentee and in person back during the primary. They are checking the absentee and questioned ballots against the vote roles from election day to make sure that no one is voting twice.
I'm not even sure who won the Republican Primary (for Don's seat), so it's no small wonder I was reluctant to vote for him last week.
What's going on in this state anyway? I can pick the next American Idol overnight, but I can't pick our next Senator/Representative in a week?
If a village with a voting population of 100 people can't get their act together on time, there's a real problem.
I know where the ballots are. I've seen them. Right now the GOP is going through them, throwing out every other Democrat vote. It's a delicate operation, so please be patient. It's absolutely necessary to get the result that we want. All of you that wrote nasty notes on your ballots, or made any marks outside of the box, are being identified as well. Plus, we have to stall in order for Karl Rove to fly up here and let us know if we got it right.
But then, I suppose that this is what you suspected all along.
glacierles , Thank you for setting the record straight . Now there should no more questions .
Slactivist,
I would hope a little more time and accuracy would go into Presidential and Senatorial elections than goes into American Idol, and don't mind allowing it the time to do so.
I went to vote at my polling place, only to be told that I wasn't a registered voter. I have been a registered voter in my district, and voted in nearly every election, for the last ten years that I have lived at my same address. Usually when I go to vote, the book of registered voters (where you are listed as a registered voter, and you must sign in order to receive a ballot) is about 2 inches thick. This time it was only about a half inch thick. When asked about the last time I had voted on anything, I replied that I had voted in the basement of that very same building a few months back, only to be told that "that was a borough election, those don't count as voting". After being, literally, interrogated by the group of elderly ladies running the polls, I was told not to worry. I could still vote on a questioned ballot, and this scenario had already happened to many, many, other voters at my polling place that day, so I shouldn't feel alone. Can you imagine how a young, first time voter would have felt having been subjected to such treatment? It's no wonder we can't get people to vote. My husband was in and out of the polling place in under three minutes. It took me over 30 minutes to get my questioned ballot and place my vote. (As a side note, I did have several forms of identification with me, but not my voter registration card. The volunteers assured me that my current voter registration card wouldn't have made any difference if I had been able to show it.) Why are we spending thousands of dollars issuing paper voter i.d. cards if they are useless at the polls? I thought they were proof of you being a registered voter?
soccermom--good for you for not getting frustrated and walking out without voting. I read that this was happening all over the US. Maybe they need to get some young people to run the voting polls. Is it just me or are these people that sign you in..well...ancient. Not that being old is a bad thing, but I have an example. I went to the polls and didn't say a word to the lady, but handed her my ID. She stared at it for probably a minute and then asked me if my last name started with a M! I said NO it starts with an H. The other ladies just smiled and said they needed better lighting. I thought maybe they needed some new eyeballs! What other mistakes was this woman making? Hopefully people were paying attention and not signing in on the wrong name.
I had already watched McCain concede the race before we even went to vote. I went to vote already feeling like my vote didn't count, but I consider voting one of my civic duties and I wanted to keep my name current in the voter registration rolls. Ha! I'm going to find out what steps are neccesary to become a poll volunteer, so maybe this will happen less often.
In all fairness, these are the people that have time to spend a full day volunteering. Most younger people voting also work during the day, and can't take off the whole day to run the polls.
The elderly women running these polls are usually retired, and volunteer their time to help. If they didn't, there would be fewer polling stations available, and longer, slower lines.
Just be polite, smile, and appreciate that they are giving up their time so that you have more convenient locations. If it bothers you, you can always take a day of leave to help out yourself.
pragmatist--that is a great idea. I hadn't thought of that, maybe I will. (Not being sarcastic)
Obviously it offended you for me to talk about the elderly in such a light, but this is a very important part of the election process. If folks are making very simple mistakes (like last names or even that they can't be found as a registered voter) then that is a vote that goes missed.
BTW--I am always polite--except when it comes to anonymous ranters on the internet.
soccermom and anyone else who voted after McCain's concession - You're vote always counts at the local level! We have several local elections that will be decided with a few hundred votes.
It's Alaska, we have 3 electoral votes; we'll likely never make a difference in the Presidential election, but we, and only we, get to decide who represents us in Juneau and in Washington DC, and that's something that cannot be taken away from you unless you don't vote.
I heard several times during Tuesday's election that there were long lines at polls in Juneau, Anchorage, and Fairbanks. I heard this from colleagues who had already voted. But if there were long lines at the polls, then why did there end up being comparatively fewer voters? The ladies at my polling place said the turnout had been steady, and they had run out of "I voted" stickers early because more folks voted than they had planned. Laurel Carothers has a good point, and it is our civic duty as Alaska voters to inquire about the apparent discrepancy. Soccermom--what an ordeal! I hope you prevail. Every vote counts.
lagirl,
Nope, didn't offend me, just trying to make people realize that:
1. The reason they are mostly elderly is because no one else volunteers to give up their work day.
2. They may have more difficulty seeing, but if those are the only people volunteering it's better than nothing (assuming they are accurate, even if slow... not accurate would be worse than slow).
Not offended at all. Sorry if it came off that way. Should have tossed some smiley faces in there somewhere.
Stormrider, thanks for pointing out the local aspect of the voting process. That's actually why hubby and I went to the polls anyway. I'd like to also take a second to point out that our neighborhood was heavily innudated with campaign signs and the day after the election, everyone of them had been taken down. I hope everyone else's neighborhood was taken care of as efficiently as well.
ACORN.....
ACORN wasn't operative in Alaska - nor was the Republican infiltration of same.
I have voted in the Fairbanks area in all but one election for the last 56 years . I have never had one problem voting .
Dem win = the people have spoken.
GOP win = voter fraud.