Who Voted and Why? A Roundtable Discussion on the Ethnic, Religious and Social Makeup of Voters in the Elections

Today, we take a look at who voted and why. Voter turnout for Tuesday's election was one of the highest for a mid-term election in recent years. It is estimated that over 40 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in an election that gave Democrats control of both houses of Congress for the first time in twelve years. Democrats also gained six governorships and three-hundred state legislative seats around the country.

Exit polls are showing significant shifts in voting patterns among the electorate. Democrats succeeded in winning back some religious voters who had voted solidly Republican in the last few elections. And - for the first time since 1996 - a majority of Florida Latinos voted Democrat. Young voters had a huge increase in turn-out - with two million more young people voting on Tuesday than in the 2002. And African-American voter turn-out made the difference in tight races like Missouri and Virginia.

Today, a roundtable discussion on the ethnic, religious and social makeup of voters in the 2006 mid-term elections.

* Tom Perriello, Senior Advisor and Co-Founder of the Catholic Alliance for the Common Good.
* Kathleen Barr Media Coordinator for Young Voter Strategies which was involved in registering half a million new young voters.
* Kirk Clay, is Director of the Electoral College Reform Project at Common Cause. Previously, he was Deputy Director of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Common Cause is a member of that coalition.
* Lydia Camarillo, Vice-president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project.

LISTEN ONLINE
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/10/1426225