One week to go until election day and if there is to be a blue wave of Democratic and progressive voters then it is all down to showing up at the polls .
turn-out /ˈtərnˌout/ noun: turnout; plural noun: turnouts; noun: turn-out; plural noun: turn-outs
- the number of people attending or taking part in an event, especially the number of people voting in an election.
synonyms: attendance, audience, crowd, gathering, showing, throng, assembly, assemblage, congregation, number; participation [emphasis added]
Nationally and here in heavily Democratic Vermont the signs are good that the turn-out may be one for the record. Vermont saw a hint of it in the August primary when 107,000 people cast ballots. This proved to be the second highest in state history for a primary.
Turn-out predictions nationally are that next Tuesday might set a fifty-year record. NPR reports:“It’s probably going to be a turnout rate that most people have never experienced in their lives for a midterm election,” Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida who studies turnout and maintains a turnout database, told NPR.
McDonald is predicting that 45 to 50 percent of eligible voters will cast a ballot. That would be a level not seen since 1970 when 47 percent of voters turned out or 1966 when a record 49 percent turned out in a midterm.
Commenting on record-breaking early turn-out in Texas McDonald stated what we all know: “There’s a guy named Donald Trump [and all his GOP enablers] and either you love him, or you hate him, but he inflames passion, and when people are passionate, they’re going to vote.”
So, ya gonna let Texas beat Vermont for election turn-out?
Go vote — now at the town/city clerk’s office or next Tuesday at the polls. It won’t work to leave it to your neighbors. It’s up to you.
Go. Vote.