Count me among those who are not convinced that putting tons of volunteer resources into calling and chasing absentee ballots is a great idea.  I think I wasted a lot of time in 2004 nagging people, picking up their ballots and taking them downtown, when most of those people would have voted on election day anyway. In 2006 the Democratic Party was smarter in that they focused the absentee effort on voters who did not reliably turn out in previous off-year elections.

I would certainly encourage early absentee voting in California if I were Hillary or Obama, but are they going to be able to make that many voter contacts before the Iowa caucuses? I'm not convinced.

Lynda,

That's a good point, but I think the voter ID work is the same either way, which means that the number of phone calls will be the same.  Plus, if their 500,000 votes are going to come from the 4,000,000 voters who are going to be voting absentee anyway, their work isn't going to make a difference, because those 500,000 people are votes in the bag for Obama either way. 

From a previous post:

…nearly 4 million California voters will have an absentee ballot automatically placed in the mail to them on Jan. 7, 2008.

The only GOTV aspect left for PAVs in California is call and chase.

From a previous post:

…nearly 4 million California voters will have an absentee ballot automatically placed in the mail to them on Jan. 7, 2008.

The only GOTV aspect left for PAVs in California is call and chase.

Lynda,

That's a good point, but I think the voter ID work is the same either way, which means that the number of phone calls will be the same.  Plus, if their 500,000 votes are going to come from the 4,000,000 voters who are going to be voting absentee anyway, their work isn't going to make a difference, because those 500,000 people are votes in the bag for Obama either way. 

Count me among those who are not convinced that putting tons of volunteer resources into calling and chasing absentee ballots is a great idea.  I think I wasted a lot of time in 2004 nagging people, picking up their ballots and taking them downtown, when most of those people would have voted on election day anyway. In 2006 the Democratic Party was smarter in that they focused the absentee effort on voters who did not reliably turn out in previous off-year elections.

I would certainly encourage early absentee voting in California if I were Hillary or Obama, but are they going to be able to make that many voter contacts before the Iowa caucuses? I'm not convinced.