Retraction
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing]
This is a major update, and retraction of the post that was at this address. The original post said that the AP/MSNBC incorrectly stated that early voting boded well for the Democrats. I originally saw where the officially termed “early voting” didn’t start yet, in Maryland and had fun with those news organizations based on that. As pointed out by several commenters and actually a representative of the AP, the term “early voting” could be interpreted to include absentee ballots. While still technically incorrect, and I encourage the AP and MSNBC to correct that technicality, in substance the story is correct (at least to the extent I know). In all frankness, I wouldn’t have written this post if that possibility had occurred to me.
What can I say? We are all human, and after the screw up the other day I was probably too eager to believe that the AP did it again. I apologize sincerely to the AP and MSNBC and I thank those who corrected me for doing so.
And for the sake of openness, the text of the original post will follow after the break.
See, AP/WaPo, that’s not so hard, is it?
———–
AP/MSNBC Reports High Democratic Turnout… in State Where Early Voting Hasn’t Actually Started Yet
How good are AP reporters? So good they can see into the future. From a report today (and you can bet your sweet tukis I am saving screencaps on this!) on early voting:
While it’s impossible to tell for whom people are voting, so far more Democrats than Republicans are casting ballots in Iowa, Maryland, North Carolina, Louisiana and Nevada’s heavily Democratic Clark County, which supplied two-thirds of the state’s voters in 2008.
Only there is one tiny problem with this report. Maryland isn’t voting yet. From the state elections website:
For the general election, early voting centers will be open starting Friday October 22, 2010 through Thursday, October 28, 2010, except for Sunday, October 24th when early voting centers are closed.
And this comes on the heels of the AP and WaPo being caught revising 76% of a story on Christine O’Donnell without issuing a correction.
Good job to Warner Todd Huston for finding this gem.
[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]
Well, it hasn’t started for what most right-wing extremists consider “voters”.
The dead, cartoon characters, illegal aliens and the like have been voting for weeks… and their turnout has been overwhelmingly Democrat. Of course, it’ll be a couple of weeks before we find out how many of their votes need to be counted.
malclave (1db6c5) — 10/21/2010 @ 2:32 pmMaybe they are referring to absentee ballots? I have absolutely no knowledge about elections in Maryland, but in my home state, I have already mailed in my absentee ballot.
Anon Y. Mous (5ac901) — 10/21/2010 @ 2:32 pmEarly voting usually includes absentee ballots. But don’t worry — the AP will soon rewrite it, and Kman will be right there to say “move along”.
Icy Texan (b49138) — 10/21/2010 @ 2:52 pmOther than that, it was totally accurate, and purported to the standards endorsed, but rarely observed, by AP,
AD-RtR/OS! (a1a38a) — 10/21/2010 @ 2:55 pmAnd, if they had read Michael Barone’s latest, they would know that they turn-out of GOP voters in both Washoe and Clark Counties exceeds their proportion of the electorate even greater than the Dem turn-out in early voting.
There is a wave building, and it is not suitable for novice surfers.
They can spin, but
that kind of change is every bit as monumental as advertised.
The Democrats have no choice but to use the Plouffe defense. No matter how badly the Democrats lose, they will say ‘we did surprisingly well, considering. Democrats have to be relieved at this good news!’ According to Plouffe, if democrats win ANYTHING, the Tea Party failed. That’s failure I could get used to.
It’s also short sighted. Tea Partiers need to get their asses out and vote. I love this kind of story because it’s got to scare the hell out of a lot of good folks to consider the democrats keeping power. We just can’t afford that.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/21/2010 @ 3:00 pmThe final phase of MSM hype, pollsters twisted numbers and Democrat smear ads are now coming on line. Things may get so bad that AP will report concession speeches by conservative candidates the night of Nov 1.
cedarhill (61c4c7) — 10/21/2010 @ 3:57 pmIt ain’t over until the fat lady sings, I thought. One delusional dem apologist over at Althouse insists that media has it all wrong and liberal pols are actually adored by the electorate and will easily vanquish the vrwc, showing how could a job Congress, Pelosi, Reid and the blessed Lord Obama are doing..right.
Calypso Louie Farrakhan (798aba) — 10/21/2010 @ 3:59 pmThe DCCC and DSCC smear ads are breath-taking in their brazen lying.
JD (b49131) — 10/21/2010 @ 4:00 pmI think Anon, and Icy is right, which makes this story substantively correct (to the best of my knowledge) and my snideness unfair. I mean there might be other things wrong, but they are not fortelling the future.
See a major correction above.
Aaron Worthing (f97997) — 10/21/2010 @ 4:39 pmNothing to see here. Democrats usually start voting a couple of weeks early in Chicago too, but nobody usually talks about it.
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/21/2010 @ 4:45 pmIt is just a coincidence that Disney is letting Michelle Obama run her public service commercials with the Disney kids right now. Pure coincidence. No relationship to election season. None.
JD (b49131) — 10/21/2010 @ 4:51 pmBummer.
Oh well, there’s plenty of other things for which they can be mocked.
malclave (1db6c5) — 10/21/2010 @ 5:31 pmIf AP meant to include absentee ballots, wouldn’t that mean that they are opening the ballots and counting them already? I thought absentee ballots were not opened and tallied until election day. (But I could be wrong). Anyone know for sure?
lasue (ed9852) — 10/21/2010 @ 5:54 pmTheir stories are never final and since this was a live story they can update and change the narrative as they go along.
JD (eb1dfe) — 10/21/2010 @ 5:59 pmBeen there, done that. Frankly, it isn’t easy to correct or retract a post — whether you are getting paid for it or not — but it’s the right thing to do and kudos to you for doing it.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 10/21/2010 @ 6:12 pmso far more Democrats than Republicans are casting ballots in Iowa, Maryland, North Carolina, Louisiana and Nevada’s heavily Democratic Clark County,
You may notice that Florida, where early voting started this past Monday, is not included. Nor is the portion of Nevada that is not part of Clark County. I suppose that means that in those two places, more Republicans have already voted than Democrats.
Also, this gives no indication of how many Democrats are not voting for the Democrats. For instance, I’ll be early voting (God willing) sometime this coming week. So AP will say, oh, a Democrat voted. But AP will not know that my vote was not cast for Democratic candidates.
BTW, according to the supposed procedure, absentee ballots remain sealed until the polls close on Nov. 2, and are then counted. In practice, this is often done only if the margin of victory in any race is close enough that absentee ballots will make a difference. (In other words, if A leads B by 200 votes, then the absentee ballots will not be counted if they number 200 or less.) Which is why absentee ballots should be the last option for a voter. (Plus, at least here in Florida, they seem especially prone to being fraudulently manipulated.)
kishnevi (6c49d9) — 10/21/2010 @ 6:26 pmNo matter, the AP always airs on the side of helping the democrat/liberal party. I didn’t believe it until I paid attention to this election. Three articles on the top of yahoo! all support the democrats…local newspapers openly endorse democrats…no wonder Fox news and others have come about. If not for them we’d already be a communist country
Mark (d34681) — 10/23/2010 @ 9:41 pm