[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/30/art.absentee1030.gi.jpg caption="Some voters still haven't received absentee ballots."]
(CNN) – With less than a week until Election Day, some voters are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of their absentee ballots.
Max Lohrey of La Junta in Otero County, Colorado called CNN’s voter hotline concerned that a missing absentee ballot might have “fallen into the hands of the wrong people . . . is this going to be used for fraud?”
Chawnte Williams, is registered to vote in the Denver area but is currently out of state. Williams reports that she requested an absentee ballot earlier this month and was informed that it would not arrive until the end of October because of printing problems. When the ballot did not arrive as scheduled, she called to check on it again, and was told by her local election officials that they had no record of her requesting an absentee ballot.
“So because of somebody’s clerical error, now it looks like I might not be able to vote,” Williams said on the hotline. "I feel like I'm not going to be able to vote and there's no reason why," Williams also told CNN in a telephone interview Thursday.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/27/palin.12.jpg caption=" Palin has begun holding policy events."] ERIE, Pennsylvania (CNN) - Sarah Palin made a new push Thursday to remind voters that the threat of terrorism remains very real, despite the current focus on the troubled economy.
In consecutive campaign events in Erie, Pennsylvania, Palin argued that economic concerns are inexorably entwined with American security interests, and that John McCain is the only candidate prepared to handle both issues.
“Gone are the days when we had placed domestic and foreign concerns in two distinct categories and just choose a president according to the priorities of the moment,” Palin said at a rally in Erie. “On November 4, we need to elect a president who can handle the difficulties in the economy and the dangers of the world all at the same time.”
The Republican vice presidential nominee was introduced by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an Erie native with national security experience whom McCain once considered tapping as his running mate.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/TECH/10/30/voting.machines/art.voting.gi.jpg caption="Early voters cast ballots on touch-screen machines Wednesday in Las Vegas, Nevada."]
(CNN) - Eight years after Florida's hanging chads exasperated voters and helped usher in sweeping changes in voting technology, many election observers remain concerned about the accuracy of the electronic voting systems most Americans will use November 4.
Touch-screen machines can occasionally fail or register votes for unintended candidates. Optical-scan systems can have trouble reading paper ballots that are too long or marked with the wrong ink. At least one study suggests that electronic voting machines can be easily hacked.
And some 9 million voters, including many in the battleground states of Ohio and Florida, will use equipment that has changed since March, increasing concerns about errors next Tuesday.
"You can be almost certain that there will be irregularities in some places around the country," said Rep. Rush Holt, D-New Jersey. "The problem now is that roughly a third of voters nationwide will use unverifiable electronic machines. So if there are uncertainties, there will be no way to resolve them."
With early voting under way in 31 states, these problems have already surfaced. In recent weeks, voters in West Virginia, Colorado, Tennessee and Texas have reported that touch-screen machines registered their votes, at least initially, for the wrong candidate or party.
The Statement
The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, on Wednesday, October 29, responded to Republican opponent Sen. John McCain criticism of Obama's relationship with Rashid Khalidi, an Arab studies professor at Columbia University, by suggesting that McCain also had a link to Khalidi. It said, "John McCain should answer why, under his own chairmanship, the International Republican Institute repeatedly funded an organization Khalidi founded, the Center for Palestine Research and Studies, over the course of many years."
Get the facts!
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/POLITICS/10/30/ms.senate/art.musgrove.ap.jpg caption="Former Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove speaks to reporters in Philadelphia, Mississippi, in July."]
(CNN) - In a normal election, the possibility of traditionally red Mississippi voting blue is slim.
But with an unpopular president, a broken economy and an African-American at the top of the Democratic ticket, the prospect is high for Democrats to pick up in November.
Related: 'Perfect storm' could give Dems 'magic 60' in Senate
Mississippi has not sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 26 years and has voted Republican in eight of the last nine presidential elections.
In 2000 and 2004, the state overwhelmingly supported George W. Bush by a nearly 60 percent margin.
Despite some polling showing Republican Sen. Roger Wicker with a comfortable lead over former Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, both campaigns agree the race is going to come down to every last vote.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/30/art.mccain.flag.gi.jpg caption="Join the conversation on Jack's blog."]
Less than 140 hours until election day when Americans will rush to the polls in what is expected to be record numbers to decide the direction of their country for the next four years.
Never has more money been spent by candidates for president to try to convince you they are the answer to America’s problems. And yet after almost two years of campaigning, it is estimated that somewhere around seven percent of Americans still have not decided whether they want John McCain or Barack Obama to run things.
The differences between the two men are as pronounced as between any two candidates for the nation’s highest office in a very long time.
To read more and contribute to the Cafferty File discussion click here
Recent Comments