[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/03/art.galines1103.ap.jpg caption="Residents in Georgia have braved long lines during early voting in the state."]
(CNN) – Go to work or go to vote? That’s a question voters across the country will be facing Tuesday in the midst of what is expected to be record turnout for voting to determine the next occupant of the White House.
A caller from Georgia reported on CNN’s voter hotline that an employer in Marietta was only giving employees 30 minutes off to vote when state law provided for up to two hours.
CNN contacted the Georgia Secretary of State and was sent the following information about Georgia law:
§ 21-2-404. Affording employees time off to vote
Each employee in this state shall, upon reasonable notice to his or her employer, be permitted by his or her employer to take any necessary time off from his or her employment to vote in any municipal, county, state, or federal political party primary or election for which such employee is qualified and registered to vote on the day on which such primary or election is held; provided, however, that such necessary time off shall not exceed two hours; and provided, further, that, if the hours of work of such employee commence at least two hours after the opening of the polls or end at least two hours prior to the closing of the polls, then the time off for voting as provided for in this Code section shall not be available. The employer may specify the hours during which the employee may absent himself or herself as provided in this Code section.
“Basically, if you report to work at 9 a.m. or after or if you do not work after 5 p.m. or earlier, employers are not required to give you time off to vote,” Whitney Halterman, a Communications Specialist for the Georgia Secretary of State, said in an e-mail to CNN.
CNN contacted the employer mentioned in the hotline call and passed along the information about Georgia law. The employer distributed new information about getting time off to its employees.
If you live in Georgia and have questions about voting, click here to go to the Georgia Elections Division Web site or call 404-656-2871.
CNN will be tracking voter problems through Election Day. If you have a problem or see a problem, call the CNN Voter Hotline at 877-462-6608. See what issues are a concern in each state by clicking on the interactive Hotline map at cnn.com/hotline.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/03/art.tuchman.cnn.jpg caption="CNN's Gary Tuchman tried to catch up with Sen. Ted Stevens Sunday."]Senator Ted Stevens has never been known as a big fan of the news media. So we knew getting him to talk to us on camera following seven felony guilty verdicts against him would be a bit challenging. He hadn’t done a TV interview since the verdicts. Ultimately, he did do an interview with us. But making that happen took us on an unusual journey.
On Sunday, we went to interview his Democratic opponent in the Senate race, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. The mayor was at a candidate forum in the entry way of a large Baptist church that was full of candidate posters, pamphlets, and balloons. As we were getting ready to greet Begich, we saw to our surprise that Senator Stevens was also shaking hands about 30 feet away from his opponent.
I came up to the 40-year Senate veteran, introduced myself, and asked him on camera if he was angry about the guilty verdicts. He told me “not that angry. I’m angry at you guys ’cause I’m trying to visit with friends; I just see them once or twice a year.” I then mentioned because he was campaigning we wanted to see if he would talk, and he objected since we were doing this in a church. I mentioned to him that there was some lively campaigning going on in this entry way, but that didn’t seem to matter to him.
Read more from the AC360 Blog
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/03/art.palinlive.cnn.jpg caption="Palin campaigned in Missouri earlier Monday."]
JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri (CNN) - After warning an audience Monday in Missouri that a government run by Democrats would “gut” defense spending, Palin asked the crowd: “Do they think that terrorists have all of a sudden become the good guys?”
“So what do they think?,” Palin mused, referring to Democrats. “Do they think that terrorists have all of a sudden become the good guys? And changed their minds? No, the terrorists still seek to destroy America and her allies and all that it is that we stand for: freedom, tolerance, equality. The terrorists have not changed their minds.”
Her question was new, but Palin was pushing an argument she has made frequently in the closing week of the campaign - that Democrats in Congress, led by Rep. Barney Frank, favor a cutting the defense budget by a fourth.
“This is not the time to gut the defense budget, and this is not the time to entrust the powers of the federal government to the one party rule of Obama, Pelosi and Reid,” Palin said.
Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has said he would favor a 25 percent cut in defense spending, but Obama has said he would actually increase military spending.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/27/art.stevens.gi.jpg caption="A juror in the Stevens trial spoke out Monday about her disappearance from the trial."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - A woman who had been a juror in the criminal trial of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens told a judge Monday she made up a story about her father dying, so she could go to California for a horse race.
The judge last week initially accepted her story about a family emergency, but was later unable to reach her to learn when she would return.
He then was forced to recall an alternate juror so the panel could resume deliberations on October 27 and possibly render a verdict. Six hours later, the verdict against Stevens was unanimously guilty on all seven counts of making false statements on Senate financial documents.
The fate of the missing juror was in doubt through the middle of last week, when U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan issued an order calling her to a hearing Monday morning.
At the hearing, she was publicly identified as Marian Hinnant, known during the trial as Juror No. 4. Hinnant's attorney, public defender A.J. Kramer, told CNN the story about her father's death was a lie.
Kramer said he told the judge that "she was okay, that her father had not died, and that she was in a state of mind where she had to go out of town on that Friday and couldn't deliberate."
(CNN) – Virginia State Police have decided not to file charges against the individual who created and circulated a flyer with incorrect information about the date for voting in this week’s presidential election.
“After a thorough investigation into the origins of a fake election flyer that began circulating in the Hampton Roads region last week, the Virginia State Police have determined no criminal activity occurred and no charges will be filed,” a press release issued Monday said.
The flyer incorrectly stated that Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters should vote November 4 and that Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents should vote November 5. The flyer claims that the separate dates for voting by party were enacted by the Virginia legislature to ease the strain on the polls during high turnout that is expected Tuesday.
But that information is incorrect. Polls in Virginia are open Tuesday, November 4 for everyone, regardless of party affiliation or political leanings.
The Virginia State Police said in a statement that they had determined the flyer had not been created in order to deceive voters. “The flyer has been evaluated as an ‘office joke’ and was not intended as a means of a misinformation campaign targeting registered voters,” they said. The department noted, however, that circulating incorrect information to voters is against the law in Virginia.
CNN will be tracking voter problems through Election Day. If you have a problem or see a problem, call the CNN Voter Hotline at 877-462-6608. See what issues are a concern in each state by clicking on the interactive Hotline map at cnn.com/hotline.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/11/03/art.early.ohio.gi.jpg caption="These early voters in Ohio waited on a two hour line to vote on Friday."]
The prescription for tomorrow is comfortable shoes and patience. It's going to be awesome.
Never in recent memory has there been so much interest in a presidential election. More than one-third of Americans are expected to have already voted by the time the polls open tomorrow, a 50 percent increase from 2004. But that doesn't mean there won't by a lot of people in front of you in line when you get to the polls.
Young people have signed up in unprecedented numbers. New voter registrations have broken records in almost every state. Turnout in many of the primaries was staggering. So be prepared.
Be aware also that tomorrow is a chance for all of us to strike a blow for democracy, and God knows she could use a shot in the arm. We're at our best as a nation when we're all involved.
To read more and contribute to the Cafferty File discussion click here
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