Liberals in Michigan ID key to victory - turn out more felons.

Michigan Liberal: Michigan Politics Blog:: GOTV Design - If We're Serious.:

Funny liberal rant that has some nuggets of truth in it. Fairly decent description of Democrat demographic groups that would be useful for turnout. My personal favorite on prisoners is below.

You just can't make stuff like this up.

"1) Prisoners in local jails. Contrary to public belief, even convicted felons can vote in Michigan, as long as they are not currently incarcerated serving a sentence. Since half of all jail inmates are technically awaiting trial or sentencing, they are eligible to vote. The problem isn't a legal bar to obtaining absentee ballots for them, but the painstaking work needed to figure out which ones are registered to vote, and then to identify someone on the outside (likely to be a regular visitor to the prisoner) who can carry the application and get a signature on it. Another problem is the high rate of 'churn' - people are booked and released constantly, and many are only in jail for a few days or weeks. A third problem is the typical inmate's utter lack of political interest or knowledge. A fourth is their typical low level of literacy and inability to follow directions. The only 'plus' is that typical inmates - if they somehow manage to vote - are at least 80% Democratic in orientation, so there isn't much point in screening for partisan orientation. In the two months preceding the November election, at least 20,000 people will spend at least 7 days in jail in Michigan. If we could get 10% of them to vote - virtually none do so on their own - we'd be adding 2000 votes statewide."