Turnout Tsunami

An article on Politico.com discusses how this election cycle has had the largest voter turnout in history. It is no surprise that this is the case when we have historically different types of candidates. However, the article points out that the voter interest has also been unusually high on the Republican side as well. On Super Tuesday, there were records broken in 15 states; 12 states were record breaking on the democratic side while there were 11 states that set Republican turnout records. Officials expect the voter turnout on Election Day to be as much as 80%, which would surpass the 61% voter turnout in 2004. Even the 2004 figure had been the highest since 1968. Election administrators are warning of the possibility of a “turnout tsunami,” which somewhat alarms them while at the same time “thrills them.” They are fearful that it may be overwhelming and hard to handle. There are concerns over long lines as well as concerns over the reliability of the electronic voting systems. I think it is great that voter turnout has been so high this election; however, with more people getting out to the polls this might also create big inconveniences. I have always been able to get right in and vote without waiting in lines so it should be interesting to see how things change with the “turnout tsunami.”