November
2, 2004. The close result in 2000, unprecedented
efforts to register and engage new voters, clear
distinctions between the two major party candidates,
and high viewership of the presidential debates all
pointed to a record turnout. By November 2
perhaps 20 percent of the electorate had already voted
during early voting periods or by absentee
ballot. On Election Day itself there were long
lines as Americans across the country went to the
polls before heading off to work, during lunch break,
or after another day at the office.
Avoiding Another Florida
On Election Day and in the days leading up to it, partisan and independent observers, federal observers, and international observers of varying stripes mobilized to ensured that voters' rights were protected and their intentions heard: Democrats announced a 2004 Voter Protection Program to "deploy an army of lawyers, organizers, and advocates across the country to protect the right of every citizen to vote and have their vote counted." The prospect of thousands of lawyers on the ground created the possibility of mischief; indeed Republicans described this as "the Democrats' Election Day litigation strategy," designed, they say, to "create a sense of chaos."
One key
component of election coverage is exit polls,
which are based on surveys of voters in randomly
selected precincts as they leave polling places.
Exit polls provide a window on the concerns of voters
and useful information on variations in voting
behavior by gender, race, age, education, income and
other factors. The successor to VNS was the National Election Pool, a cooperative formed by ABC News, Associated Press, CBS News, Cable News Network, Fox News and NBC News. In 2004, a partnership of Mitofsky International and Edison Media Research [Mitofsky International-Warren Mitofsky; Edison Media Research-Joe Lenski] did exit polling for the National Election Pool. There were 1,480 exit poll locations and results were obtained from 1,469 of them. The 2004 exit polls were not without fault, however. Results of early exit polls, although not formally reported, became known and appeared favorable to the Kerry campaign, raising false hopes among Democrats and unnecessary worries among Republicans. Some analyses sought to tie the discrepancy to use of particular types of voting machines. In a 77-page evaluation released in January 2005, the exit poll team attributed the "sizeable overstatement of the estimated percentage of the vote for John Kerry" in significant measure to "differential non-responses by Republican vs. Democrat voters." However, a number of statisticians challenged the Edison/Mitofsky report. A second important element of election night coverage is the collection, tabulation and distribution unofficial election night vote results for presidential, Senate, House and gubernatorial races. In 2000 this function was also fulfilled by VNS (in the past a separate entity called News Election Service did this work). VNS worked with election officials in every county in the country to gather these results. On election night, stringers and reporters in tens of thousands of precincts around the country called in reports to VNS, which then processed and transmitted the information. For news organizations, when everything works election night is as good as it gets, a chance to show what they can do. Anchors man elaborate sets, correspondents around the country file reports, and, as the evening progresses, states are called one way or another and the map begins to fill in with red and blue. Defeat...And
Victory Results The Morning After...What
Does It Mean? Election Day: Take
2...The Electoral College Electors are
generally party activists. Some months before the
election each party puts together a slate of electors,
chosen by congressional district with the exception of
the two at-large Senate slots. If the party's
presidential candidate wins the popular vote in the
state on Election Day, its electors meet in the state
capitol on the first Monday after the second Wednesday
in December 2004. If not they stay home.
On January 6th, 2005 in a special joint session of Congress these envelopes wre opened and tallied. Normally this would be a pro forma exercise. Certification of the state results proceeded alphabetically until the Ohio votes were announced. At that point Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH), supported by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), announced a challenge. Debate followed, but the election of President Bush and Vice President Cheney was finally and officially certified. Jan. 6, 2005--Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH) raises a challenge. [Certification of the Results in Joint Session of Congress (Jan. 6, 2005)] Voter Turnout in Recent
Years
Note that prior to the 2004 election CSAE had used Voting Age Population rather than Eligible Citizens so that in 2000 for example it had reported turnout as 51.2% of VAP. Resources and Useful
Links -Spencer Overton, "Second Class Votes: Why a Voter Should Cast a Provisional Ballot Only as a Last Resort." NAACP National Voter Fund (Oct. 28, 2004). -U.S.
Government Accountability Office (GAO) report:
"Department of Justice's Activities to Address Past
Election-Related Voting Irregularities" [GAO-04-1041R],
September
14, 2004 (released October 15, 2004). -The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights held several "Is America Ready to Vote?" briefings on election reform and voting integrity (briefing paper; April 9, July 15, Sept. 17). -U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chairman DeForest B. Soaries Jr.'s July 13, 2004 statement concerning the status of the November presidential election. Exit
Polls "Evaluation of Edison/Mitofsky Election System 2004" prepared by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for the National Election Pool (NEP) (released January 19, 2005). US Count Votes. "Response to Edison/Mitofsky Election System 2004 Report." (Jan. 31, 2005) Electoral
College -In Colorado voters rejected Amendment 36, the Electoral Reform Initiative, which appeared on the November 2 ballot. If approved by voters it would have, effective this election, changed the way Colorado allocated its electoral votes so they were divided based on the popular vote rather than winner-take-all. FairVote. "Presidential Election Inequality: The Electoral College in the 21st Century." (Feb. 2006) General
2000 Election Night Coverage: What Went
Wrong -CNN commissioned an independent review panel which produced a report [Joan Konner, James Risser, and Ben Wattenberg. "Television's Performance on Election Night 2000: A Report for CNN," Jan. 29, 2001] (PDF format), and it is instituting new policies for election night coverage. -American
Antitrust
Institute Calls for Break Up of VNS (11/27/00)
Copyright 2003, 2004, 2005 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action. |