Voter Turnout: Get Out the Weather Map

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We’re in for a record turnout, but just how high will it be? Political scientist Michael McDonald, who excludes noncitizens, felons, and other ineligble over-18ers, predicts we’ll sit right next to the high from 100 years ago, 65.4% of eligible voters when, in 1908, William Henry Howard Taft defeated anti-evolution Dem William Jennings Bryan in a landslide.

One predictor of turnout? The weather. Though with people as pissed off as they are with eight years of corruption, wars, and debacle after debacle, rain and long lines likely won’t keep many people away. Overall, bad weather and rain will help McCain though, if only on the margins. Here’s the latest Weather Channel map, with rain and showers scattered throughout the battleground states of North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Colorado, and Montana. (Fox is already reporting rain-related problems in Virginia.)

weather.jpg

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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