Josh Goodman is a former staff writer for GOVERNING..
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Why Turnout Won't Be Depressed on the West Coast
We can tell which way the presidential race is headed. Several of the networks, including CBS, NBC and CNN, have called Ohio for Barack Obama.
In past years, this might have depressed turnout in the West Coast, but I don't expect that to happen this year. The reason: The West is where people vote by mail.
Oregon and Washington vote almost exclusively by mail. California is probably the third heaviest vote-by-mail state. Most of those ballots leave voters hands far before election day. So, there's a tiny fraction of voters who might decide not to show up in the final hour of voting (or decide not to drop off their mail ballots), but far fewer than there would have been in past years.
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