As I noted yesterday, some people in Virginia and Maryland thought that they could vote yesterday:
Hundreds of confused Virginians and some Marylanders jumped the gun yesterday, showing up at polls or calling election officials to find out where to cast ballots, even though the presidential primary is next week.
Virginia and Maryland were not among the 24 Super Tuesday states that voted yesterday, but that word apparently did not make it to some voters. Virginia, Maryland and the District vote on the 12th.
More than 700 people called the Virginia State Board of Elections to ask, “Why aren’t my polls opened, and where do I go to vote?” said Susan S. Pollard, a spokeswoman for the board. On a typical day, the board fields 150 to 200 calls.
The Fairfax County elections board was getting about five calls an hour yesterday morning from voters asking where they should go vote.
“To receive so many calls asking about Super Tuesday and when do we vote in Virginia is unheard of,” Pollard said. “Granted, we have to wait and see, but I think turnout [next Tuesday] will be a bit more than people originally anticipated.”
Maryland Election Administrator Linda H. Lamone said that “the phones have been ringing all day” but that she had no way to quantify what percentage of the callers were confused about the primary.
Donna Duncan, director of election management for the Maryland State Board of Elections, said that “it’s possible that the overall media coverage of Super Tuesday led some people to think” Maryland was voting.
Yesterday’s so-called national primary also confused some voters in Texas. Election officials in San Antonio told reporters they got more than 1,000 calls, even though Texas’s primary is March 4.
I’ll just say it, if you’re not well informed enough to know when you’re supposed to vote, just stay home. Casting an uninformed vote is worse that casting no vote at all.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
[...] bad enough when people show up to vote a week early, it’s even worse when they show up a week late: Millions of Americans in 24 states are turning [...]