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DEL.ICIO.USEarly voting in Cobb: Not a single black voter abandoned the long line
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just cast an early vote in Cobb County. Only took one hour, forty-five minutes — exactly three weeks before Election Day.
A long line folded itself three times in a relatively hot October sun, shortly before lunch-time. Perhaps a dozen people couldn’t stick it out — they left before getting to the front of the line.
Every one of those who gave up the effort was white. Once in, not a single African-American walked away while I was there. If voter fatigue becomes a factor over the next three weeks, and on Election Day itself, one has to wonder if Republicans are more likely to lose out than Democrats.
Statistically speaking, my vote is sure to have helped push early voting in Georgia over the 500,000 mark today — halfway to Secretary of State Karen Handel’s goal of 1 million.
As of close of business Monday, 499,582 ballots had been cast. And Cobb County has been averaging 1,400 early votes a day.
The racial percentage has dropped slightly, but not significantly. African-Americans, numbering 184,453, have cast 37 percent of all early votes in Georgia. At 11 a.m. in Marietta, at least half the line was made up of black voters. Possibly more.
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Comments
By Copyleft
October 14, 2008 3:11 PM | Link to this
Good to see people excited about voting again. I guess all it took was a candidate worth voting for.
By EHK
October 14, 2008 3:44 PM | Link to this
Eddie:
You are behind the curve. We’ve already had our income redistributed. Bush and the Republicans have taken our income and redistributed it to the rich and to the Wall Street crew. Talk about socialism. We already have it, but we aren’t the ones who benefit. If you want to vote for the Bush socialists who have taken the money out of our pockets, go right ahead.
By Jeff
October 14, 2008 3:49 PM | Link to this
Copyleft:
Glad to see we agree for once and that Bob Barr got your vote, since he was by FAR the ONLY ‘candidate worth voting for’.
By Copyleft
October 14, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this
I wasn’t in the early voting. The topic was the number of black Georgians who stood in line to vote, which is a good predictor for the Democrats.
Barr? Who’s he—one of those libertarian wingnuts?
By Jeff
October 14, 2008 5:50 PM | Link to this
And you trust the very plumbers that screwed your sink up to fix it????
(See today’s Non Sequitur comic strip…)
By James
October 14, 2008 9:57 PM | Link to this
And just who are the racists in this election?!
By bart
October 14, 2008 10:53 PM | Link to this
You are the racist you’ve been looking for
By Southern Born
October 15, 2008 9:16 AM | Link to this
My guess is, all those who left had to get back to WORK.
By Gary
October 15, 2008 1:09 PM | Link to this
Lazy white voters! (kidding)
By KAB
October 15, 2008 5:39 PM | Link to this
It is impossible for 95% of blacks to vote for Obama and for all of them to agree with his positions, they are simply voting because of the color of his skin. Hello, you are suppose to use your intellect and make decisions based on your values and policies. Blacks are now doing what they have screamed against for years but now your screaming is over and you will have to actually live with what you have done because the next president will have to straighten out the mess.
By Kevin
October 15, 2008 6:13 PM | Link to this
KAB: 90 percent of black voters voted for Kerry in 2004. It is a demographic that has been a stronghold for democrats for years because the Republican party alienated many for decades with their indifference to the socio-economic imbalance many whites enjoy in this country. Certainly there is excitement for Obama, but it is because he runs as a unifying figure, and one who has made the case that he is the best candidate to handle the sad, sorry mess brought on and amplified by one George W. Bush.
By Ohpuhleeeze
October 15, 2008 6:19 PM | Link to this
So, those blacks that voted in all previous elections used their intellect and made decision based on their values & policies when voting for white candidates and nothing has changed for them really. It’s all on those that have a problem with the color of a candidate’s skin and subsequently panic and resort to fear mongering and racial slurs to whine their discontent and fear. I definitely wouldn’t vote knowingly with racists. As an American citizen, I pride myself on not finding terms like Arab or Muslim offensive or bad. It is the racism within our foreign policy (the Face of America) to the world, that put actions like 9/11 upon us. Once America deals firmly with the Timothy McVee terrorist types, I think we’ll be a stronger and better nation.
By Ohpuhleeeze
October 15, 2008 6:22 PM | Link to this
So, those blacks that voted in all previous elections used their intellect and made decision based on their values & policies when voting for white candidates and nothing has changed for them really. It’s all on those that have a problem with the color of a candidate’s skin and subsequently panic and resort to fear mongering and racial slurs to whine their discontent and fear. I definitely wouldn’t vote knowingly with racists. As an American citizen, I pride myself on not finding terms like Arab or Muslim offensive or bad. It is the racism within our foreign policy (the Face of America) to the world, that put actions like 9/11 upon us. Once America deals firmly with the Timothy McVee terrorist types, I think we’ll be a stronger and better nation.
By matt
October 15, 2008 6:59 PM | Link to this
so the 90% of white southerners who vote for the republican in every election aren’t doing so because of racial issues?
By C-Trane
October 15, 2008 7:45 PM | Link to this
As a black man I can honestly say that I personaly have not had a conversation with any other black person that has said that they would vote or are going to vote for Obama just because he is a black man. Infact I feel a little insulted by that comment.
By Indianavoter
October 15, 2008 8:24 PM | Link to this
Wake up and smell the coffee people….Obama wins…
Georgia NC Indiana VA NM CO NV and FL and Ohio are icing on the cake….
Ground game beotches
By ladyg
October 27, 2008 6:43 PM | Link to this
African Americans like any other American will vote for the candidate who best represents their socio-economic values and political views. Obama is a young man who is smart, well educated, progressive, and able to unite and motivate people of all ages to action. We need a progressive, open minded leader in this 21st century. It’s the old…experienced politicians that got us in this mess we are in today; and I am a baby boomer myselt. I will vote based on the content of the candidates character and not the color of his skin.
By ladyg
October 27, 2008 6:48 PM | Link to this
African Americans like any other American will vote for the candidate who best represents their socio-economic values and political views. Obama is a young man who is smart, well educated, progressive, and able to unite and motivate people of all ages to action. We need a progressive, open minded leader in this 21st century. It’s the old…experienced politicians that got us in this mess we are in today; and I am a baby boomer myselt. I will vote based on the content of the candidates character and not the color of his skin.