Pssst. Don't tell Iowa and New Hampshire...

[wyldwolf]

Pssst. Don't tell Iowa and New Hampshire, but people scattered all around the country could well be voting at the same time or even beat them to the polls this winter.

In California, for example, the presidential primary has been moved up a month to Feb. 5, and voters can cast absentee ballots as early as Jan. 7. Iowa and New Hampshire, which traditionally hold the leadoff caucus and primary, haven't nailed down their dates yet but are looking at early January.

The absentee vote in California is no small thing. In 2004, about a third of the state's primary ballots were cast early. In 2006, the figure was 47 percent.

Nearly 4 million voters in California have signed up as "permanent absentee voters," meaning early ballots for the primaries will automatically pop up in their mailboxes.

The California page of Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign Web site prominently features a big red button that declares: "Vote Early." Viewers can fill out a request right there to obtain an absentee ballot. Clinton's campaign plans an aggressive vote-by-mail effort targeting solid Clinton supporters and promising demographic groups such as older women. South Carolina, where people 65 and older are among those who can vote early, is another state on the Clinton list.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iqaPpKxaadY9JefAay0yzWQHVEzAD8S76AA01

[saracat]

1. Hmm. Scared of IOWAS and NH are ya?

[wyldwolf]

2. why should I be? Clinton leads in both... AND in California

[saracat]

5. Just wait.

[zanne]

3. NH is out to get ya'!

When you come across the state line, we ask you if you're in favor of NH's first in the nation status. If you say no, we smack ya'.

[cobalt1999]

4. Until those votes are counted and the media reports on them...

It's meaningless. Unless California has some ongoing count they release, in Florida absentees are counted last.