Some More Early Voting Nuggets

USA Today gets into the early voting reporting act with these tidbits:

• Florida: Republicans outnumber Democrats in absentee voting by nearly 3-to-2 among 630,000 voters, according to the state Republican Party. But Democrats are closing that gap in early in-person voting; Monday's opening day produced nearly a 2-to-1 advantage for Democrats among 150,000 voters, says McDonald at George Mason University. President Bush carried the state with 52% in 2004.

• Ohio: In Cuyahoga County, which Democrat John Kerry won by a 2-to-1 margin in 2004, nearly 45,000 people who affiliate with Democrats in primary elections have cast ballots, compared to 10,000 who vote in GOP primaries. In Hamilton County, where Bush won 53% in 2004, three in five early voters are affiliated with Democrats.

• North Carolina: Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2-to-1 among 480,000 early voters. Bush won the state in 2004 with 56%.

• Georgia: More than 750,000 people have voted, nearly 25% of the 2004 total. Voters don't register by party, but 36% of early voters are black — up from 22% in 2004.

• Colorado: More than 150,000 people have voted absentee by mail. The party ratio — 81,000 Republicans, 76,000 Democrats — roughly matches overall registration.

• Iowa: Nearly 200,000 people have voted so far, including 100,000 Democrats and 54,000 Republicans. That's a greater ratio than 2004, when 194,000 Democrats and 141,000 Republicans voted early. Bush won Iowa in 2004 by 10,000 votes.

• Nevada: In Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, Democrats outnumber Republicans in early and absentee voting by a 2-to-1 margin — higher than their 60%-40% registration edge and Kerry's 52%-47% margin in 2004.

•New Mexico: More than 230,000 people have voted early or absentee, and Democrats have a 62%-to-38% advantage over Republicans. That's about the same as the Democratic registration edge in a state that Bush won by 6,000 votes in 2004.

Some of this information overlaps with the Times article, but this provides some numbers and data for those who might be interested. Note that Florida's early voting just started Monday, so that early GOP advantage based on absentee ballots is likely to change.

Also, I wanted to highlight this gem from a party hack at the RNC:

Republicans say Democrats are wasting their time pushing loyalists to the polls early. "They only get to vote once," quips Rich Beeson, political director for the Republican National Committee. In contrast, the GOP targets "low-propensity" voters who might not come out on Election Day.

Yeah, that makes complete sense. Getting your supporters to the polls early and not on November 4 is a total waste of time. Brilliant. Mr. Beeson sounds like a real deep thinker. In all seriousness, this is just typical hack nonsense. Sure, there is a possiblity that the Democratic vote may be diluted somewhat on November 4 by so much early voting, but does not mean that the above trends are troublesome for Democrats. Talk about grasping at straws.