Election 2008 Resources

June 2, 2009

ST. PAUL — A lawyer for Norm Coleman, the Republican who is fighting a recount battle with Al Franken, a Democrat, for a Senate seat, faced sharply skeptical questioning on Monday from justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court in a crucial hearing on the case.

Mr. Coleman, who served one term before the November election, is challenging the rulings of a state recount board and a lower court, which declared Mr. Franken the winner of the race by hundreds of votes.read more >>

Concerns about balloting problems persist, but aren't driven by personal experience
New York City – January 15, 2009 – Despite problems at the polls in 2000 and 2004, and fears that they would reoccur in the last election, the vast majority of Americans said they had a positive voting experience in 2008. Even more strikingly, citizens expressed strong enthusiasm about being engaged in their communities, according to a Public Agenda survey of voters conducted immediately following the presidential election.read more >>

Back in the summer of 2007, Sen. Barack Obama stood near a community center with D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and said: "Folks in D.C. still don't have a voice in their national government. That's wrong. Residents shouldn't be treated like tenants."

Now that Obama (D) is poised to become the 44th president and both houses of Congress are majority Democratic, District leaders and activists say they're in the best position ever to secure representation for the city on Capitol Hill.read more >>

Record Latino voter turnout puts Latino issues at the forefront

November 5, 2008read more >>

On Monday, I identified four problem areas to watch out for on Election Day: 1) lines at the polls, 2) voting equipment, 3) voter registration lists, and 4) provisional and absentee ballots. While machine breakdowns and polling place lines got the lion's share public attention on Election Day, a closer look reveals that voter registration was the election administration issue of 2008. Looking forward, it is imperative that policymakers consider changes to voter registration that would eliminate unnecessary barriers to participation and reduce the need for provisional ballots.read more >>

When problems occur in elections, it's often not until after the polls close that information about them begins to trickle out.

This is the period when officials are scanning and counting mail-in ballots, completing tabulations, determining which elections may require a recount, and beginning their canvassing to certify the election results.read more >>

PRINCETON, NJ -- The final pre-election Gallup Poll Daily tracking survey of nearly 2,500 likely voters shows that Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election with practically total support from black Americans, and heavy backing from those with postgraduate educations, young adults (male and female alike), and non-churchgoers. At least 6 in 10 voters in all of these categories cast their votes for Obama.read more >>

Data Shows 24 Million Young Adults Voted, 4 Million More than in 2004

Washington, DC - November 5, 2008read more >>

George Pillsbury, with the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network, offers a preliminary, yet comprehensive, look at the states and turnout trends. This is a compilation of information from leading sources, like the US Election Project (Michael McDonald), CIRCLE and the major media exit polls.

Voting in western states and southern states was up the most. Due in very significant part to the 3 demographics that added the most voters – Latino, Black and Youth.read more >>

VALERIE JARRETT

Position: Transition co-chair

Experience: Jarrett, 51, is a Chicagoan who has done a little of everything in Barack Obama's adoptive home town. Born in Shiraz, Iran, where her father ran a hospital for poor children, Jarrett was raised in Hyde Park, the neighborhood where the Obamas live.read more >>

Many of the states that allowed early voting this year experienced few delays on Election Day, and now federal election officials, lawmakers and voting experts say people in every state should have the same privilege.

There is also increasing support for broadly expanding voter registration rolls, possibly by having the federal government require the states to make registration automatic for all eligible voters. Supporters say universal registration could reduce registration fraud and the confusion at the polls that results when voters are purged from the rolls.read more >>

The following statement was issued by the Brennan Center for Justice, the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG. The statement is followed by the groups' government integrity reform agenda for the 111th Congress:
Our organizations worked hard to pass the landmark ethics and lobbying reforms that were enacted in the 110th Congress. At the time, we said that our next major battle would be to reform the way federal campaigns are financed. read more >>

House Winners Raised $1.1 million (median) through October 15; Senate Winners Raised $5.6 million

House and Senate Democratic Party Committees Had Huge Advantages: House Party Spent $1 million or more in 38 Races Won 25 (Three still undecided)

Money and Competition Went Hand in Hand
The Campaign Finance Institute today released its first post-election tables on money in the 2008 House and Senate elections. The released material, which omits data on 4 Senate and 5 House races not yet “called”, includes: read more >>

Record turnout among Hispanic voters helped push Barack Obama over the top in an election that signals the emerging political clout of the nation's fastest-growing demographic group.

About 10 million Hispanics cast a ballot, up from 7.8 million in the 2004 presidential contest, accounting for 8% of the national voting public, exit polls show. Latinos voted for Sen. Obama over Sen. John McCain nationally by 66% to 32%, marking a dramatic shift toward Democrats from 2004, when more than 50% supported Sen. John Kerry and 40% voted for President Bush.read more >>

Beyond federal victories for progressives, November 4th was in multiple ways a resounding victory for progressives at the state level.

• First, with President-Elect Obama's experience as a state legislator, state leaders will hopefully have an ally in the White House who understands the challenges they face and the need for a federal partner to make state innovation effective. read more >>

November 5, 2008

Registering to vote online ... coping with masses of mail-in ballots ... voting during an "Election Week" rather than a single Election Day: These are all features that came into play during this year's historic balloting, and they point to the next step in the evolution of the electoral process.

On the day after Election Day, experts on voting technology were quick to explain what went right and what went wrong this time around - and whether it's possible to fix our clunky voting system.read more >>

November 6, 2008

Two excellent sites for comprehensive information on the outcome of state elections including ballot measures:

• www.ncsl.org – National Conference of State Legislatures is the bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staff of the states, commonwealths and territories. It provides research, technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on the most pressing state issues and is an effective and respected advocate for the interests of the states in the American federal system.read more >>

November 4, 2008

After the embarrassing irregularities of the 2000 vote — hanging chads, anyone? — Congress resolved to ensure that they wouldn't happen again and spent $2 billion on new-generation voting machines. read more >>

WASHINGTON (AP) — America voted in record numbers, standing in lines that snaked around blocks and in some places in pouring rain. Voters who queued up Tuesday and the millions who balloted early propelled 2008 to what one expert said was the highest turnout in a century.

It looks like 136.6 million Americans will have voted for president this election, based on 88 percent of the country's precincts tallied and projections for absentee ballots, said Michael McDonald of George Mason University. Using his methods, that would give 2008 a 64.1 percent turnout rate.read more >>

November 4, 2008

Barack Obama, the 47-year-old son of a Kenyan father and a Kansan mother who defeated Sen. John McCain to become the nation's first black president-elect Tuesday, turned his attention Wednesday to selecting cabinet officers and other top aides to help deliver on his campaign pledges to right a faltering economy and two drawn out wars.read more >>

About 22-24 Million Young Americans Go to the Polls:
Up by at Least 2.2 Million from 2004

Young voters favor Obama over McCain 66% to 32%; 18% of all voters were young

Conference Call-in Press Briefing to Discuss 2008 Youth Vote, 2 PM ET, Nov. 5
The dial-in number for the call is 877-844-6052 (no access code needed)

Medford/Somerville, MA - Preliminary CIRCLE projections show the turnout for young Americans (ages 18-29) is higher than in 2004, a year of significant increase, and is much higher than it was in 2000 and 1996.read more >>

The dramatic rise in early voting this election opens up a window of opportunity to have a national dialogue about the meaning of Election Day. It is almost certain that this dialogue will take place in the halls of Congress. In the last session of Congress, several bills were proposed that would mandate no-excuse absentee balloting for all Federal elections, and one of these bills was co-sponsored by Senator Hillary Clinton.read more >>

WASHINGTON, DC-- Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) participated Tuesday in an election that will go down in history with high turnout rates-- especially among minorities, new voters, and young voters. APIAVote partners and coalitions in 14 states turned out thousands of voters yesterday in the efforts to increase civic participation in the fastest growing minority community in the nation. read more >>

I'm not going to lie to you. When Barack Obama first kicked off his campaign less than two years ago I was more than a little skeptical. Like many of my peers from the Millennial Generation, it was hard for me to believe that a man of African decent had a legitimate shot at becoming the President of the United States. I love my country but, after all, the cannons of the US's unique history are filled with tales of racial discrimination and ethnic prejudice. read more >>