Look for that "Terra Warning" to flash Red around Halloween

The Bush Administration will be throwing desperate haymakers throughout October and then a terror-warning of the gravest kind in late October in an effort to suppress voting.

They will then try to eliminate as many voters at the polls as possible, before, in many locations turning it over to Diebold.

Why?

Because otherwise voter turnout is going to break records, and when that happens Democrats win.

A record surge of potential new voters has swamped boards of election from Pennsylvania to Oregon, as the biggest of the crucial swing states reach registration deadlines today. Elections officials have had to add staff and equipment, push well beyond budgets and work around the clock to process the registrations.

...

Officials across the country report similar patterns.

"Everything we're seeing is that there has been a tremendous increase in voter registration," said Kay Maxwell, president of the League of Women Voters. "In the past, we've been enthused about what appeared to be a large number of new voters, but this does seem to be at an entirely different level."

Registration numbers are impossible to tally nationwide, and how many of the newly registered will vote is a matter of some debate. But it is clear the pace is particularly high in urban areas of swing states, where independent Democratic groups and community organizations have been running a huge voter registration campaign for just over a year.

The parties have been registering voters as well, with Republicans especially active in critical states in an effort to counter the independent groups.

In Cleveland, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has spent $200,000 on temporary workers this year to deal with a wave of 230,000 new registrations, more than double the number in 2000. The number of registrations in Tallahassee, Fla., is up 20 percent since the presidential primary in March. And St. Louis is reporting the largest growth ever in potential new voters.

...

These nonpartisan community groups, as well as Democratic organizations like America Coming Together, have driven most of the increase, registration officials say. In Florida and Ohio, Republicans have mounted moderately successful campaigns that have increased registration in suburban communities.

But the huge gains have come in areas with minority and low-income populations. In some of those areas in Ohio, new registrations have quadrupled from 2000. President Bush won in Ohio in 2000 by 165,019 votes.

It is harder to say what is driving the registration increase in Montgomery County, which is still considered "a Republican town" even though it went for Mr. Gore in 2000 and Bill Clinton before that. One of the wealthiest counties in Pennsylvania, it has had a lot of new building in recent years. But it also has working-class communities and is about 10 percent minority, and the community organizations say they have worked hard to register people here.

Now, whether the percentage of registered voters actually voting will spike is another question, but I think its fair to assume the progressive organizations working so hard at registration will have their act together on election day. Even a normal percentage still means a huge swell in votes when the registered voter number is higher.

This is excellent news not necessarily being picked up by pollsters. It is also a reason for the Bush Administration to do whatever it can to suppress voter turnout.
Such is their belief in democracy.