I bet at least 75% of the population ends up voting, not 50%

[Melodybe]

I just read an article on yahoo and they said that voter turnout would be about 50%. How is that possible with voter registration going through the roof in every state?

Take your camera's to the polls, see if you can get pictures of the lines, we have to show people that voters came out.

We made need it.

[ProudDad]

1. All we need

is about 55% and the dems will probably win...

[serryjw]

2. I think 55% is an accurate turn out......15% of

American registers BUT never votes! It was 52.6 in 2000.

[fujiyama]

6. I'm willing to bet

that it will hit almost 60. I'll go with a 5% increase over last year. Turnout will be 57.8 or so.

[readmylips]

3. It has to be over 50% for sure...

My sister-in-law in Virginia, not only is she voting for the first time (58 yrs old), she's a volunteer working on voter registration. She said she doesn't have to push people to register, people line up to register, and they are all democrats.

[whirlygigspin]

4. Place your bets

82%

[George_S]

5. High Turnout

All signs point to 2004 as a vintage year for democracy in the United States. Interest in the campaign and candidates is up. More people are following the election. People see distinct differences between the candidates on the issues. The election is perceived to be close, not only nationally, but also in a greater number of battleground states than in 2000. Many people have already committed to voting, and absentee ballot applications are running at record levels.

This year will undoubtedly set a record for the total number of Americans who vote. If the 2004 turnout rate matches the 1992 turnout rate, as many polling organizations predict when they define "likely voters," then approximately 122 million Americans will vote, an 17 million increase from the record 2000 presidential turnout of 105 million.

http://www.brook.edu/views/papers/20040909mcdonald.htm

[0rganism]

7. Don't get your hopes up too much about a large total turnout, tho

Conventional wisdom says that when lots of people turn out, Democrats win. But Oregon, where I live, kind of flies in the face of that supposition. Ever since we went to vote-by-mail, Oregon gets a very high turnout -- over 70% for presidential elections and high-profile ballot measures. However, the turnout has increased approximately evenly for both D and R. We still have very tight governor races, with more people voting for each candidate.

Now it's entirely possible that without the mail-in ballots, R's would have even better chances. I can't speak to that, all I can say is that the situation remains about the same as ever, with or without the high turnout. We didn't have any sudden upswings in elected Democrats or liberal policies in the first few mail-in votes.