Youth Turnout - Rolling Updates

Rather than post continuously as more exit polls are released and analyzed, I'm going to use this post to write rolling updates on new data. I'll write/post something comprehensive after the Young Voter Strategy media call tomorrow afternoon.

Update - 9:15 YVS is going to release more updates from exit polls at university precincts, but won't have any hard turnout numbers until tomorrow morning. So I'm taking the rest of the night to nurse my head cold. I'll be back tomorrow. Maybe I'll post again tonight if something really interesting rears its head.

Update - 7:15pm: YVS reports that their campus exit polls continue to show that turnout at Ohio State University and UW-Madison are surpassing 2002 levels.

I wish they had turnout numbers from non-university precincts too. I'm going to hunt around for some. Let me know if you find any.

6:15pm Young Voter Strategies just released their first projection of youth turnout, and it looks like turnout is up on campuses in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Maryland.

That's good news for Democratic Gubernatorial and Senate candidates like Sherrod Brown, Ben Cardin, Jennifer Granholm, Mike Hatch and Martin O'Malley.

Early numbers show significantly higher young voter turnout in a number of student-dense precincts; in fact, in four youth-dense precincts in Maryland, Michigan, and Ohio, student turnout at 2pm was already higher than the final vote count in that same precinct in 2002. Click here for the spreadsheet.

And in six of the University Wisconsin-Madison precincts (where tallies are reported by the hour), turnout at 11am was two to three times higher this year than at 11am in 2002. See chart below, and a news release from the PIRGs’ New Voters Project with more information and info on activities happening around the country. We’ll be gathering more precinct tallies and have additional information later in the evening.