Dems, GOP Court 'Unreliable' Voters (unreliable about actually voting)

[papau]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Chasing-Early-Votes.html

September 21, 2004
Dems, GOP Court 'Unreliable' Voters
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 3:10 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some call them ``the unreliables'' -- huge numbers of prospective voters who favor one party or the other but have a spotty record of actually showing up at the polls.

Six weeks before Election Day, both parties are mounting an unprecedented effort to get these highly prized people to cast their ballots -- not on Nov. 2 but as far in advance as possible, in some cases this week.

In Arizona, singer Linda Ronstadt urges people at a rally to vote early. In Ohio, volunteers deliver an absentee request form to a homebound 85-year-old woman. In Iowa, Democrats train thousands of volunteer couriers to pick up early ballots from voters.

With 32 states now offering some form of early voting, the tradition of mounting a massive get-out-the-vote drive in the week before the election has given way to a sustained six-week chase as balloting in one state after another opens for business. In a sense, it's like the movie ``Groundhog Day,'' requiring the campaigns to treat every day like Election Day for more than a month.

For example, Democrat John Kerry's trip to Iowa this week was keyed to the start of early voting there on Thursday.<snip>