The really good news from the NH primary? Record voter turnout. The winner is America!

[merrily]

[valerief]

1. THIS is what Occupy Wall St. sparked.

[pacalo]

6. Damn straight -- I'm SO PROUD of this new generation who really get it.

[senz]

8. Yep. The time is right. The time is now. For the people.

[Dont call me Shirley]

24. Occupy the Vote....

[Live and Learn]

30. I love that. +1000 nt

[Dont call me Shirley]

33. Thank you, L & L, it just came to me. You can use it. Everyone can use it, except for Wall St!

[Live and Learn]

34. Thank you. I don't think you are in any of danger of Wall Street using it . LOL nt

[Dont call me Shirley]

35. But we know how much Wall St wallows in thievery.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

40. Yes!

[Zorra]

2. WOW! Thanks, merrily!

[merrily]

4. My pleasure, Zorra.

[winter is coming]

3. That's worth a K&R!

[merrily]

5. Thanks!

[senz]

7. YES!! America won tonight.

[malthaussen]

9. Yes, that is good news.

Turnout will be the key to a victory for Mr Sanders, if he wins. But it must be sustained, not just for the primaries, not just for the election of POTUS, but for the 2018 midterms as well. If America wants to clean house, everyone is going to have to pitch in.

-- Mal

[hopemountain]

45. he addresses this in his speech at the end

that his campaign's purpose is to get as many people involved in the democratic process as possible because we must to save the country from a republican in the whitehouse and that the higher the voter turnout - the more power we have in our government to effect change.

[Beartracks]

48. Bernie in the WH is only a beginning.

I sure hope all the enthusiastic voters get that. I was sorely disappointed when Dems stayed home for the previous round of mid-terms.

We NEED to get as many Dems as we can -- progressives if possible -- back into Congress, pronto.

For that matter, everyone: VOTE even if your state's only Dem choices are conserva-Dems or Blue Dog Dems... because we need as many (D)s back on Capitol Hill so that the ones who really ARE liberal/progressive (think Warren, Franken, etc.) can get back into chairing committees. THAT only happens if there are more (D)s than (R)s, and the math doesn't care if the (D)s are all progressives or not -- we simply need a majority of them.



===========================

[hopemountain]

50. ....

[LonePirate]

10. Are we sure it is a record turnout for Dems? We had 284K in 2008.

Have the most populous and/or Democratic precincts reported in yet? We're at 84K with 40% in so far. Unless the Dem heavy precincts are still unreported, it will be tough to obtain 200K in the final 60%.

[merrily]

12. That's what I heard on the Tee Vee machine.

[merrily]

17. Delayed reaction: The OP says nothing about only Dems.

[LonePirate]

20. In 2008, Dems beat Repubs by 50K on primary day. We're currently 10K behind w/ ~50% in.

It may be a record when combining both parties if populous precincts are still to report. Otherwise, these turnout numbers are not good news for Dems at all as it won't be anywhere near a record for the party.

[merrily]

22. I don't know how to say it more clearly: The OP says nothing about only Dems turnout.

It's intended to be a nonpartisan OP, celebrating good voter turnout in a country where only a small fraction tend to vote.

If you want a pessimistic thread about Dem turnout only, please feel free to start one. Thanks.

[Go Vols]

11. Great News

[mopinko]

13. record voter turnout has a lovely ring to it.

[Beacool]

14. No, the winner is Bernie Sanders.

He did a good job and congratulations to him.

[merrily]

15. Thanks, but turnout is on all candidates (even the you know whos) and all NH voters.

This is a victory over voter apathy, a very sad fact of American life, IMO.

[Beacool]

18. Again, this is NH.

It's as if I chortled like a canary when Hillary wins NJ. She has the home field advantage over here. NH is a good win for Sanders, but it doesn't predict how he'll do in future states. That's why I'm keeping my jets cool until after the SEC primaries. That's when we'll see how this race is really shaping up.

[merrily]

19. Um, the OP is totally non partisan and so was my prior post to you.

[Beacool]

21. Then, I beg to differ with the OP.

I don't think that "America won" because Sanders won NH. I think that HE won. One candidate, not all Democrats or the country as a whole.

[merrily]

23. The OP is not about Sanders' winning. It's about voters of all parties turning out to vote.

The OP and Reply 15 spelled it out clearly. Sorry this seems to be so difficult for you.

[840high]

38. Yes it did. Thank you.

[R B Garr]

42. Sanders himself has said turnout would favor him.

He said it again on his little walkabout in New Hampshire just this morning. It's been heavily discussed that was directed towards young people showing up since they are not always reliable, and polling showed they favor him in New Hampshire.

Sanders himself has said this. Hard to believe you are now arguing that. So Beacool is right.

[merrily]

44. The only thing I "argued" is what my very own OP is about. It's a nonpartisan rejoicing

in voter turn out in a country where only a fraction of potential voters care enough to get to the polls.

Read the OP. It's not about Bernie or Hillary or Democrats or Republicans. It's about New Hampshire voters doing the right thing and going to the polls. See also Replies 15, 19 and 23.

I have no clue why Hillary supporters are having trouble grasping that. I've said it about five times now. I also have no clue what you're on about, but I'm fine with having no clue about that.

[hopemountain]

49. merrily is right. please listen to the last few minutes of his

speech tonight - the sanders campaign (as stated by him) is to get more people involved in the democratic process to take the country back from citizens united and the corporations. he means for all americans.

the record breaking voter turnout in new hampshire by all of her voters is for everyone - all of american and is a beginning many of us hopes burns like fire across the country inspiring and motivating record numbers of voters.

[bullwinkle428]

16. Bernie kicked Trump's ass in terms of total votes!

[Dont call me Shirley]

25. K & R, merrily!

[litlbilly]

26. I think tonight will spread like wildfire, no matter what the M$M does to tell us otherwise

[bunnies]

27. And this is why we (NH) deserves to go first.

Just fucking saying.

[merrily]

46. Good for New Hampshire voters for getting to the polls.

[Punkingal]

28. Absolutely!

[BigMin28]

29. Reminds me of a line from an old movie.

" The sleeper has awakened! "

[Bubzer]

32. The spice must flow? May the Bern be with you? ;)

[BigMin28]

43. Yes. Feeling the Bern!

Doesn't Chris Christie remind you of Baron Harkonnen?

[Bubzer]

47. With pustules and all.

About the only thing he lacks is the hover device to keep him mobile.

[Bubzer]

31. And it's so very awesome! I can't wait to see more!

[Kip Humphrey]

36. This is YUUUUGE!

YUUUUGE is winning...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1280113744




The revolution is on, is working, and is not to late to join.

[Hulk]

37. Woot!

This is what we need to see happen across America!

And VOTE OUT the repuKKKes, teabaggers and DINO's!

Take America back for the people once again...if it ever was.

[Uncle Joe]

39. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, merrily.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

41. Yes, yes, yes!

Even our shabby media loves to report high voter turnouts in total. Hopefully, the NH primary will set an example for the rest of the states: Bernie can and will win when people VOTE!

[hopemountain]

51. "occupy the vote!"

hear! hear! and here! here!

[Divernan]

52. Just got go ahead to add extra person to my election panel

I'm a judge of elections in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh & suburbs) and just requested and got approval to add an extra worker to my election panel for my ward and district (that will make us 6 instead of the usual 5). My contact in the county election office confirmed my expectation that a huge turnout is expected.

I also just set up a voter registration session at a senior assisted living high rise in my ward/district. They've had a considerable turnover in residents since last year, which means a lot of the seniors aren't registered in their new location, and will not be in the voter register - which in turn means they'd have to vote a very time-consuming, paper provisional ballot (also have the option of returning to their old polling place and machine voting there - but that's extremely impractical and nobody ever does it).

It takes a good half an hour to assist a senior voter in all the steps for filling out a provisional ballot - plus those ballots aren't even counted for several days after an election. So it's time well spent for me to get them correctly registered and listed in the voter register so they can vote on the machine.

I also expect a record number of absentee ballots. We can't open and count them until after the polls close - that will easily add another hour to a 16 hour day for election workers.

We have a fair number of contested primary races down ticket this year (U.S. Senator; Congressman, state legislator) so I think this primary election will be more work than the general for poll workers.