Black Voters Hitting Polls Early

Black turnout isn’t just expected to be high this year; according to early voting records, it already is, the Wall Street Journal reports. African Americans account for 36% of early ballots in Georgia, for instance, despite making up just 29% of active voters. In 2004, blacks represented 25% of overall turnout. Yesterday, Atlanta voters stood in line for up to 90 minutes to cast their ballots.

One woman who’d marched with Martin Luther King Jr said she didn’t want to take any chances when it came to casting her historic vote. One lawyer said she’d never voted before, but said she wasn’t just voting based on race. “The fact that the most qualified candidate happens to be African-American is just an incredible thing,” she said, “A truly historic moment.” (More Obama 2008 stories.)