Black Turnout is Strong in Early Voting in the South

The usual way that people vote in a General Election (that's the name for an election that's nationwide) is by going to a "polling place" in their town where voting machines are all set up on Election Day. This year, our Election Day is November 4. These polling places are normally in a local school or library, and people go in and out of the place all day, whenever it is convenient for them, and it is usual to wait anywhere between 5 minutes and almost half an hour (depending on how quickly things are going).

There are other ways to vote, including Absentee Voting (which I just did today!), but this year, it has been especially popular to do Early Voting. Early voting is basically like going to the polling place on Election Day, except that you can turn in your ballot up to a month before the actual election -- and it gets counted early!

Part of the reason that this option is really popular this year is because more Americans are planning to vote than ever before in this Presidential election, and some people are worried that polling places will be overcrowded and that you would have to wait hours in order to vote.

An article just came out talking about exactly who is voting early this year,and according to it:

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires several Southern states to report racial breakdowns among voters, an effort designed to prevent discrimination. But North Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana are the only ones reporting that information as early voting is proceeding.

Here are the data they've turned in:

---------------------	North Carolina	Georgia	Louisiana
Black Voters (as % of Early Voters in 2008)	31%	36%	31%
Black Voters (as % of TOTAL Voters in 2004)	19%	25%	--
Black Population (as % of State Pop.)	21%	30%	31.7%

[Update (10/30/08): These numbers are changing every day, since Early Voting continues up to Election Day. In Georgia, Louisiana, and almost in North Carolina, the total number of Early Voters has doubled those in 2004 for each state. The percent of this year's black Early Voters in Georgia has dropped a point to 35%; in North Carolina, it's fallen four points to 27%. And in Louisiana, that percent has actually risen to 36%.

And there's a new page with raw data (that I assume will be updated daily) on Early Voter turnout in all 50 states.]

Check out general facts on voter registration and state populations at the US Census Bureau website.