A college friend in Madison told me on Wednesday they were expecting 60,000 people for the Kerry rally featuring Bruce Springsteen. Looks like the actual attendance was more like 80,000-100,000. You can find some amazing pictures here. Yes, it’s heavily Democratic Madison, but I can’t imagine Bush being able to turn out 100K, even with an assist from someone like Schwarzenegger.
One thing that the voter protection trainer didn’t cover very well on Tuesday was the rights of voters with disabilities. There is the expectation within much of the disability community that GOP challengers may try to block individuals with perceived cognitive disabilities from voting. They may try to convince election judges that if someone has a guardian, they aren’t eligible to vote. It’s a bullshit argument, but it’s a method designed to intimidate potential voters. I don’t predict that this will be a huge problem, but it will be something I’ll be watching for on Tuesday. I’m not as worried about physical accessibility of the polls. In general, Minnesota does a good job of ensuring access to voting places.
If you still don’t believe that there are active efforts to suppress voter turnout, look at this flyer that was being distributed in African-American neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Sometimes I wonder if I’m not paranoid enough.
