Early Voting for the entire state of Florida has just been extended.
Every Early Vote location in Florida will now be every day from 7am-7pm up through November 2.
Please pass along this great news to everyone you know who will be voting in Florida. Click here to find your nearest early vote location.
Here's the release:
GOVERNOR CRIST EXTENDS EARLY VOTING HOURS ~~ ~Ensures maximum number of Floridians can exercise right to vote~ ~~October 28, 2008Contact:GOVERNOR'S PRESS OFFICE(850) 488-5394TALLAHASSEE - Governor Charlie Crist today signed Executive Order 08-217, extending the hours for early voting during the current General Election. Effective immediately, early voting sites will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., through Friday, October 31, 2008, and for a total of 12 hours between 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 1, and 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 2, 2008. "I have spoken with the Secretary of State and members of the Florida Legislature and have concluded that it is always the right thing to do to give voters every opportunity to cast a ballot," Governor Crist said. "I have a responsibility to the voters of our state to ensure that the maximum number of citizens can participate in the electoral process, and that every person can exercise the right to vote." Prior to the 2008 General Election, Florida has seen historic numbers of Floridians registering to vote for the first time. In addition, record numbers of voters have chosen to cast a ballot during early voting. Early voting began on October 20 and runs through November 2. Current Florida law allows for early voting to be conducted eight hours per day on each weekday, and for a total of eight hours during both weekends during the early voting period. Floridians can contact their county's Supervisor of Elections for dates, times and locations of early voting. Florida voters can also request absentee ballots to be mailed to them until October 29. Please see the attached Executive Order 08-217. STATE OF FLORIDA OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 08-217 WHEREAS, early voting is scheduled to end November 2, 2008; and WHEREAS, early voting turnout has already reached record levels and is forecast to continue with record turnout. There are only 267 early voting sites throughout the state and long lines have formed at many of the early voting sites; and WHEREAS, a historic number of Floridians have registered to vote for the first time in this election; and WHEREAS, new voting equipment is being used in 15 Florida counties; WHEREAS, as a result of this unique combination of circumstances resulting from the historic voter turnout in this election, there is a possibility that election officials will be unable to conduct an orderly election, and thus residents in our state could be deprived of a meaningful opportunity to vote; andWHEREAS, because of the existing and continuing possibility of an emergency occurring before or during the regularly scheduled election, and in order to ensure maximum citizen participation in the electoral process, and provide a safe and orderly procedure for persons seeking to exercise their right to vote;NOW, THEREFORE, I, CHARLIE CRIST, as Governor of Florida, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Article IV, Section 1(a) of the Florida Constitution, by the Florida Elections Emergency Act, and by all other applicable laws, issue the following Executive Order, to take immediate effect:I hereby declare that, based on the above-described conditions, a state of emergency exists. It is hereby found and declared to be necessary to extend the voting hours during early voting. Accordingly, I order the Supervisors of Elections to open early voting sites from 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. through October 31, 2008 and open early voting sites for a total of twelve (12) hours between 7 a.m. November 1, 2008 and 7 p.m. November 2, 2008.IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Florida to be affixed, at Tallahassee, the Capitol, this 28th day of October, 2008. GOVERNORATTEST:SECRETARY OF STATE
GOVERNOR CRIST EXTENDS EARLY VOTING HOURS
~~ ~Ensures maximum number of Floridians can exercise right to vote~ ~~
October 28, 2008
Contact:
GOVERNOR'S PRESS OFFICE(850) 488-5394
TALLAHASSEE - Governor Charlie Crist today signed Executive Order 08-217, extending the hours for early voting during the current General Election. Effective immediately, early voting sites will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., through Friday, October 31, 2008, and for a total of 12 hours between 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 1, and 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 2, 2008.
"I have spoken with the Secretary of State and members of the Florida Legislature and have concluded that it is always the right thing to do to give voters every opportunity to cast a ballot," Governor Crist said. "I have a responsibility to the voters of our state to ensure that the maximum number of citizens can participate in the electoral process, and that every person can exercise the right to vote."
Prior to the 2008 General Election, Florida has seen historic numbers of Floridians registering to vote for the first time. In addition, record numbers of voters have chosen to cast a ballot during early voting.
Early voting began on October 20 and runs through November 2. Current Florida law allows for early voting to be conducted eight hours per day on each weekday, and for a total of eight hours during both weekends during the early voting period. Floridians can contact their county's Supervisor of Elections for dates, times and locations of early voting.
Florida voters can also request absentee ballots to be mailed to them until October 29.
Please see the attached Executive Order 08-217.
STATE OF FLORIDA
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 08-217
WHEREAS, early voting is scheduled to end November 2, 2008; and
WHEREAS, early voting turnout has already reached record levels and is forecast to continue with record turnout. There are only 267 early voting sites throughout the state and long lines have formed at many of the early voting sites; and
WHEREAS, a historic number of Floridians have registered to vote for the first time in this election; and
WHEREAS, new voting equipment is being used in 15 Florida counties;
WHEREAS, as a result of this unique combination of circumstances resulting from the historic voter turnout in this election, there is a possibility that election officials will be unable to conduct an orderly election, and thus residents in our state could be deprived of a meaningful opportunity to vote; and
WHEREAS, because of the existing and continuing possibility of an emergency occurring before or during the regularly scheduled election, and in order to ensure maximum citizen participation in the electoral process, and provide a safe and orderly procedure for persons seeking to exercise their right to vote;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, CHARLIE CRIST, as Governor of Florida, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Article IV, Section 1(a) of the Florida Constitution, by the Florida Elections Emergency Act, and by all other applicable laws, issue the following Executive Order, to take immediate effect:
I hereby declare that, based on the above-described conditions, a state of emergency exists. It is hereby found and declared to be necessary to extend the voting hours during early voting. Accordingly, I order the Supervisors of Elections to open early voting sites from 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. through October 31, 2008 and open early voting sites for a total of twelve (12) hours between 7 a.m. November 1, 2008 and 7 p.m. November 2, 2008.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Florida to be affixed, at Tallahassee, the Capitol, this 28th day of October, 2008.
GOVERNOR
ATTEST:
SECRETARY OF STATE
Hot off the wire from the Cincinnati Enquirer: About one-third of the absentee ballot applications received at the Hamilton County Board of Elections have been ruled invalid because Republican Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign printed a version of the form with an extra, unneeded box on it.It turns out the problem is that the McCain campaign added a box on these forms that required you to check it to confirm you were an eligible voter. Yep, that's right- check here if you are eligible to vote. I guess the act of actually requesting an absentee ballot doesn't qualify that. And if you don't check it...... bingo. You get the picture. And the McCain campaign has sent out over a MILLION of these forms. The State of Ohio and the local election boards, understandably, don't want to pay to fix the mistake on this- how much d'you want to bet the McCain campaign wants to pay to fix it?Over seven-hundred and fifty absentee applications have been rejected so far. If we're counting on absentee and early voting to help us mobilize our GOTV effort, then this is a clear and present danger to it.
read more here http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20080911/NEWS0108/309110032
"Misleading" absentee ballot applications are being mailed out by the McCain campaign to registered Democratic voters in purple states. The return addresses are inaccurate, as well as other information. "Misleading, lying" mailers are going out in Florida and other purple states. It's a caging tactic. Calls are coming in verifying that this is happening in small towns, as well as larger ones.
read more here http://current.com/items/89293206_misleading_absentee_ballots_being_sent_to_citizens_by_john_mccain
Dear Barack Obama,
The jobless rate went up yesterday to 6.1% nationally with a loss of 84,000 jobs... Here in California that number is even higher on the whole. Los Angeles for example has an 8.1% unemployment rate and the state is at 7.1%. People are loosing their homes. I sympathize cause I've already lost mine and my wife and I are coming out of bankruptcy.
I watch all the news stations and saw you somewhere out in what appeared to be western Pennsylvania talking about the poor jobs report...What I didn't see was a follow-up in that same excerpt, that same couple of sentences, about how you are going to put America back to work. Please tell us. We want to believe!
As you well know this election is close. It might very well be won on 'sound bites' that those not so close to the news cycle will be following... You must be tired, you look tired...I know I would be if I were you but we've got less than 60 days to win this election. I believe in you and what your team will do to take this country back for the people and what you and your team will do to unite the electorate. Please find the strength within and the energy to get more aggressive on the economy. I grew up in the Pennsylvania Dutch country and lived in the suburbs outside Detroit Michigan as well, two key battleground areas. The people want to believe. You are the candidate of hope and change! Please hit the eonomy harder and lead us all back to greater prosperity.
Sincerely,
A concerned American and a strong believer in you
On March 28, over at Chris Weigant's blog, Chris asked his readers to place their bets (in quatloos) when Clinton would drop out of the Presidential race. Well, I've done pretty well so far. I predicted that Obama would surpass Clinton in Superdelegates before the West Virginia primary (got it right) and several of my delegate totals from the primaries were darn close (I didn't do so well on my original delegate estimate for Indiana). Also, I was only 1 day off for the John Edwards endorsement of Obama. My final prediction is Clinton drops out on June 16, just 31 days from now.
27. This is the magic number.
The blog editor won't allow tables ... so the rest of the post is over at The Dead Guy
JOIN THE MOVEMENT...
to make the video, "A More Perfect Union" an Official Obama Campaign Video.
Inspired by Barack Obama's historic speech on race, this video features his vision of one America set to soulful and expressive original music.
SIGN THIS PETITION:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/amoreperfectunion?e
The petition contains a link to the video, if you haven't seen it yet.
It's Awesome! NOW SPREAD THE WORD!
Thanks!
(cross-posted on The Dead Guy)
Main Entry: chi•me•ri•cal Pronunciation: k?-?mer-i-k?l, k?-, -?mir- Variant(s): also chi•me•ric -ik Function: adjective Etymology: chimera Date: 1638 1 : existing only as the product of unchecked imagination : fantastically visionary or improbable 2 : given to fantastic schemes
Thanks to a friend, I was able to attend tonight's musical at the Des Moines Civic Center - "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" (Spelling Bee). It was a fun night, but as I drove home, a bell went off in my head (and no, Spellers, it wasn't Vice-Principal Panch), I recognized that Senator Clinton and her campaign for the Democratic Presidential Nomination can be encapsulated using many of the lyrics from the musical.
