“Likely voters.” You know the term. It’s for people who pollsters think are most likely to show up at the polls, even in Florida. The trouble is most of the time they tend to be older, white, and male. What’s problematic is that in this hyper-media World, people tend to react to what comes from social media. And the message has been that there are forces out there who don’t want blacks and Latinos to vote.
So the reaction was predictable, long lines of people waiting to vote for up to five hours, and those lines mostly with black folks. They, er, we, are the unlikely voters – the ones that pollsters never think to call unless the poll has to do with race. The ones who could also tip this election for President Obama.
Just look at this report:
Chaos ensued at Miami-Dade Elections headquarters Sunday when officials closed the doors early on nearly 200 people who had been promised an extra four-hour period to vote — then reopened an hour later with more staff.
It’s estimated that over 25 million people have already early voted. That’s about one-quarter of the electorate – a record number. President Obama’s GOTV campaign was geared to make this happen, and Obama Campaign Chief Buffy Wicks deserves credit for this. Here’s Buffy at the Democratic National Convention:
Stay tuned.