With some states already voting for the election, much debate has arisen about the challenges posed by permitting citizens of some, but not all states, to vote early. Review the summary of early voting taking place across the U.S. (34 states) in the USA Today.
Beyond the question of early voting, problems are likely to occur with voters being unsure about specific election rules for their state, and there are likely to be failures at individual precincts in their handling of adverse conditions (large voter turnout, malfunctions with ballots, etc.).
NPR’s Pam Fessler answers questions about potential voting problems and specifically addresses early voting in her Q and A session. Listen to her recent podcast to hear more: NPR podcast (click on “listen” right before article begins).
Discussion Questions: Answer one or both sets of questions.
1. Do you think it is fair and democratic to have an election where some states have early voting? What impact do you think this year’s early voting will have on the national election?
2. After considering some of the voting problems officials are worried about and recalling the controversies from the past two elections, what are your greatest concerns about voting access or accuracy on election day? Please post articles or sources you find that relate to this question.
I don’t think it’s fair or democratic for some states to vote early because it’s a national election and should be done so for everyone around the same time, not month. The impact that one stating voting could have is observers being swayed to one side or another if they are knowledgeable enough to know which states are the swing states or have the most electoral votes. While this isn’t extremely likely to happen, it doesn’t mean that it couldn’t and I wouldn’t want to take that risk. My greatest concerns on election are voting accuracy in terms of whether or not the ballot was punched correctly and whether or not the person collecting the ballots can read them correctly. Numerous problems have been detected with determining the status of a ballot’s chads; if you have poor eyesight you can’t read the ballot correctly, if you are spatially challenged, if you don’t even understand the arrow system, if you are nervous or confused by the voting style or possibly because you’re under pressure to get hundreds of ballots counted. There is way too much room for human error on election day. Case and point: Florida Election 2004.
I do not think that some states should be allowed to vote early. Sure, everyone will get around to voting sooner or later, but like the person above said it is a national election which means as a nation everyone should vote at the same time. Not too mention I know many people who are on the fence about who to vote for already, and whether or not this seems unlikely, another person’s vote COULD sway their own. Everybody voting at the same time makes it much more likely to produce unbiased opinions.
My greatest fear is a repeat of Florida Election 2004, because of the way it divided our nation and negatively effected one of the most important decisions we have to make of voting for our president.
The ability for some states to vote early and not others seems unfair. The country schedules an election day (November 4th) in order for the whole country to come together for a day to vote for the officials they want in office. It is undemocratic to give some people priority by allowing them to vote ahead of others. This can also allow swing states and undecided voters to have an influenced vote. Worse can even happen, people may feel their vote does not matter and not go vote on November 4th.
Having knowledge of the past few elections (2000 and 2004), my major concerns are whether the promptness of the declared winner will allow the votes to be counted accuracy of this elections turnout. With this being such an important and focused on election, I feel people will try to get the results as quickly as possible which may put aside the clarity of the counting.
Here is a good link that contains a chart summarizing early voting for the country: http://www.earlyvoting.net/states/abslaws.php
This site can also allow us to predict which states may need to be watched (look at the type of voting system they have): http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/template_page.aspx?id=42332
Here is another website that states seven things that can go wrong on election day: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1853246_1853243,00.html
I think that early voting is okay as long as everyone has access to it. Unfortunately this is not the case as election laws vary from state to state. Voting would be fairer if the federal government set guidelines for early voting and voter identification, however logistically this might not work. Overall though, I think that the idea behind early voting is fair. It can be beneficial because it shortens lines the day of the election. By voting early a person gives up their chance to change their mind before election day. My greatest concern about the about access and accuracy on election day is that not all people and communities will have a proportionate share of voting machines. I think it is ridiculous that some communities have less voting resources because of the political beliefs of election officials. Voting turnout in America is already low, and not everyone is willing to wait in line for hours to vote.
Early voting is okay as long as it is done for a certain reason. You should be allowed to vote early if you will be in another country during the election to make it equal that everyone gets to vote. What worries me about this election is that it will be similar to the 2004 election with Florida. I read the article that ohpolitics posted and there way to many things that can go wrong with this election. although every election is important this one is especially crucial because of the many issues we have going on in our country. The seven things that can go wrong on election day worry me extremely and it also doesn’t allow our nation to be democratic and allow everyone to vote
Early voting does have its pros and cons. For one, it will make the poll lines shorter so people are able to get in and out but if the votes aren’t being counted until Election Day anyways (like the NPR article says), what’s the point? If people are going to vote early you might as well tally those votes instead of adding them to huge pile you’re going to have on election day. The cons: November 4th is called “Election Day”. There should be no such thing as early voting. Everyone should have to vote at the same time. Like cms91 said, early voting doesn’t give voters another chance to listen to the candidates before election day. What happens if one of them says something that really gets you mad? Can you change your vote if you have already voted? Unfortunately not.
With any large election, there is always room for human error. No counting of votes will ever be perfect (unless done by machine, but even machines can mess up), but not all voting places have access to machines. Counting votes I’m sure is very stressful, trying to get it done as accurately and as quickly as possible. Like most of the posts above, A repeat of Florida 2004 is a great concern. There was such controversy in that state, and this election is very important because of the path of country is taking. There are so many important issues like the economy, the housing crisis, health care, and taxes. This years counting of votes is crucial and extremely important. Hopefully the human error can be kept down to a minimum and Election Day or Election month as we might as well call it, will run as smoothly as possible.
I think that it is fair and democratic to have an election where some states have early voting. These voters don’t get any advantages other than that they don’t have to wait in line all day. Their votes won’t be counted twice or anything like that (hopefully). I think that this will increase efficiency and waiting time for lines come November 4th.
Due to early voting, I think more people will vote on Election Day. This is because some people get frusterated with the lines or have some place to be, etc, and can’t wait on line all day. These people often have to leave if they’ve been on line too long and don’t vote. Hopefully, early voting will decrease the time on the lines and people can stay and vote. Also, in some states, people who would otherwise need an excuse for an absentee ballot can just vote early without an excuse.
Believing that early voting is unfair and undemocratic compared to voting on election day, is ridiculous. Early voting allows individuals who cannot attend election day to vote beforehand so that their vote can count too. Not only will these M.I.A. voters be able to vote for a candidate but their voices will be heard regardless of whether they are out of the country during election day. The fact that these early voters also shorten the line for those who are able to vote on election day, also demonstrates the benefits of this early action. It’s obviously better for all voters to have their say rather than have those who are unable to vote on election day or those who cannot vote after the assigned time is given, to not have their vote counted at all.
As we see many people voting early in this election, I feel the early voting process will have a significant impact on this election but definitely not in a negative sense. I think voters will always have some kind of doubt, or change of mind regardless of whether they see the results of the early voting or not. In the end, early voting will only help this 2008 national election.
I think that early voting is fine and acceptable, as long as it is handled appropriately. There is no reason why voting early is not democratic or fair. I think it is better that this option is given because it makes things even more fair. It also shows fairness in the aspects that every vote counts and these states are trying to get every vote. I think early voting could have an impact on the elections, since I believe it is going to be a lot closer than the polls predict. Also it is could have an impact if there are problem with the early votes. Basically, my greatest concern is that all the votes are counted and that the past problems dont continue to happen. If the past problems happen again it could jepardize the race and the rightful president.
I think early voting is a bad idea espeically if there is not a uniform way to ensure that every vote is legal and if everything is going smoothly. It might be unfair to people who are not able to go out and vote on election, but they could have gone and gotten absentee ballots if they cared that much. I think this could have a negative effect on the election because it could discourgae people from going out to actually vote on election day because they may think one candidate or another is winning. No one wants another 2000 election to happen again and I worry that this whole early voting idea could cause problems in the long run. However, this could allow more people to vote then actually would because people do not like waiting on lines or other things, so if there is not fraud and people do not hear results of the polls I think it could be a good thing.
If you want to fix voting problems, I give these two suggestions: make early voting closer to actual Election Day, and train people in better methods to take care of voting procedures.
Seeing which way a state will swing in an election is more difficult if the early voting day is closer to the normal voting day. This eliminates much of the foresight that comes along with early voting rules.
Secondly, the biggest problems concerning voting procedures are usually due to the administrators making mistakes or even (in extreme cases) attempting to tweak the votes. When poll managers are untrained in resolving voting issues, confusion and panic set in that slows the whole process. It’s also very important to be sure of WHO is running the voting outposts, to ensure no tampering with the ballots.
It’s no problem in my view to allow early voting. I personally wouldn’t like the idea as I think you’re doing away with possible changes in the campaign and may learn new things as the campaign progresses. What you are essentially doing is blowing off all of the possible things that can occur between the time you vote and the time of “Election Day.” If someone feels the urge to vote early for whatever reason, let them do so. I do believe, however, that this should be a nationwide thing, not just allowed in 3/5 of the states. I also don’t see an issue when this, in effect, makes the voting process easier and more convenient to certain people in some cases. I really don’t find the availability of early voting of unrestrictive absentee ballots to be negative for any real reason other than it should be available everywhere. This also goes into the problems that I think will be prevalent in the election, such as the voting machine shortages. I think sometimes people look too deeply into the racism aspect of this issue, in that people believe “minority” areas have a much higher machine to voter ratio. You need to take into account that many of the areas, especially in the tri-state area, that are of low income and have higher poverty rates, happen to be inhabited by many citizens labeled “minorities.” This usually doesn’t give them the resources to gain access to the necessary amount of voting machines or give them high priority over the use of the machines. Again, I believe we’ll have a state or two with some sort of voting malfunctioning, however small it may be, and we may hear more of this racial and social class conflict in relation to the amount of voting machines in certain neighborhoods.
According to :
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/24/165726/21/508/641237
and from what I’ve heard reports about on various news reports, we’re also seeing a lot of “miscalculated votes” in which people’s votes are being registered towards the wrong candidate. The report at dailykos even goes to say that people who are going to vote early (to essentially, perhaps, want to ’skip’ the lines on election day) are waiting in three hour long lines themselves and that connections to the voting database have been LOST several times. It just seems to me that this whole process is far from perfect. Human and CPU error are always put into question and that will never cease to be a part of presidential elections in the modern world. I also think this talk of voter fraud will always be prevalent. It’s interesting to see the media’s reaction to voter fraud, in my opinion. FOX News was all over possible voter fraud on Obama’s front, however we saw little speak of this or maybe only a mention of it from the other news stations. Again, I can’t vote yet so maybe my views on the early voting process will change. I can expect to become more bitter about the voting process as I get older as well, which may be why I don’t feel that concerned today. It all just feels like the same ole election spirit that always seems to rile up Americans. It’s just funny how things never really change.
Given the option of early voting is absolutely genius. In past elections, places have been crammed with too many people waiting in line just to cast their support for their desired candidate. Further more, early voting allows the individuals that have had their heart set on their chosen candidate to finally be relieved that their vote has been counted- rather then waiting in anticipation and suffering the agony until November fourth. Such problems in the past such as mishandling the ballots of votes and the risk of messing up counting have posed as problems. However, with less numbers thrown into the pot and in-person votes regarded as acceptable, early voting does seem to be most practical approach nowadays.
I think the idea of early voting, especially voting early by mail, is a way to ensure that more eligible voters actually vote, and don’t let inconveniences or immobility prevent them from getting to the polling place on Election Day. Therefore, I think it would make the entire process more fair and voting more convenient and accessible to allow people in every state to vote early or by mail. I think it is possible that early voting might give Obama an advantage. In a story in the NY Times today (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/us/politics/26indiana.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin), Republicans in Indiana attempted to close early voting places that are located in largely Democratic cities. They argued that the extra polling places increase the risk of voter fraud, but the state law only allows one early polling place, and it is obvious that not everyone who wishes to vote early can make it there. The article also mentions how Indiana, a typically red state, shows Obama even with or leading McCain. It is pretty clear to me that Republicans are trying to argue the extra early polling sites are unfair because they are in Democratic areas. Luckily, hearings on the case brought up by these Republicans has purposely been pushed back, allowing the early voting to continue. This article also worries me that early polling places in other states might be closed because of similar arguments, perhaps making polls less accessible in areas that aren’t middle class and white, as the npr broadcast suggested.
I don’t see any problem with early voting in my eyes. I believe that this is a perfect solution to shorten lines at the voting boths come election day, and it will also encourage more people to vote knowing that they don’t have to wait in long lines in order to cast there vote. The only thing i am concerned about is how many American people know about early voting and if its allowed in the state where they reside in. I think if early voting was advertised more to the American public there would be an even greater turn out of more voters than already projected.
The only concern i have is voting access. I feel that Pam Fessler’s statements about more voting machines being available for voting districts is a lie. I believe that the voting lines will still be painfully long and might drive some people away from the boths despite early voting. I also think that the voting lines are going to be so long that the polls will close with many people still in line who did not cast their vote yet. hopefully this will not be a huge contastrophy and courts will allow voting places to be opened longer. I really really hope this election is not tanted in who the real winner is because that will only cause more drama that America can not afford right now. SO PLEASE FLORIDA DONT MESS IT UP!!!
I think that it is absurd to have a few states have early voting. If all states allowed early voting, it would be different. With early voting people might change their vote if lets say Obama is seriously getting a lot of votes so then the voter won’t be different and stand out. Furthermore, this election is a national election and all votes should be equal. This means that all voters should be able to vote at the same time and that votes should not be allowed to sway other people’s votes.
I believe that it’s fair for states to hold early voting, whether it’s democratic or not I’m undecided but I definitely believe it’s fair. Early voting complies with the American way of life. People and families always have a million things to do during the day, election day or not. Schools a day off on election day, so for parent that means either finding a sitter for your kids or draggint them along with you to vote, which can take quite a while.
While we may find this ridiculous that parents would use the inability to find a babysitter, or not wanting to deal with taking their kids to vote with them, some parents could care less. If having early voting allows for more voting then everyone should be doing it. The point of our government has always been to give the people a say, which early voting does.
This link describes some problems there have been with some of the early voting, “from votes for president jumping between candidates on touch screens in West Virginia and Texas, to computer scanners not reading paper ballots in Florida or scanners in New Mexico that did not count votes for president or senate, to the candidates’ names disappearing from computer screens in South Carolina.”
http://www.alternet.org/democracy/104635/democrats_describe_efforts_to_limit_voting_machines_problems/
Personally this all concerns me, depending on how close the race will be every vote could count, we don’t want to have any major problems with the election this year and have more chaos. I think the Democrats would like you to think they have everything under control, with the manuels they have handed out to everyone, but it seems like there are still some kinks to work out in the system. I do think that everyone is working as hard as they can to have everything worked out by the time we get to election day. This though is another benefit of early voting, though you don’t want any problems with any votes, the majority of votes will be coming in on election day, so hopefully everything will be perfected by then.
I do not believe that it is fair that states have early elections. Because the election standards vary from state to state, as is their right, it is obviously not unconstitutional however one candidate may suffer from having a later or an earlier election. McCain specifically may go one way or the next- Palin may continue to hurt his campaign (CNN) or he may somehow change the pace of the campaign to attract more voters. The country should have elections at the same time so that the country can be at the same point so that things are more or less equal. At the same time early elections allow people who cannot normally vote the ability to do so. This promotes citizen involvement in the government which must be encouraged all the time. Human error on Election Day may be a possibility unless the voting process somehow changes in order to hopefully avoid a repeat of the 2000 election in Florida in the case of Bush v. Gore. I wonder if there will be any substantial voting requirements. In the past, cases questioned the constitutionality of voting requirements (Grandfather clause, literacy requirements, etc.) and more recently cases have entered courts for the unconstitutionality of requiring a government issued id. This generally affected the poorer masses because they could not afford the fee required to have the id, preventing them from being able to vote in elections.
http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/congress.html
Clearly demonstrates significant problems with voting; problems that may plague the election and perhaps change the outcome (though I would certainly hope not).
I do not think it is fair or democratic for some states to allow their voters to vote before November 4th. When states allow their citizens to vote before then, it does not give the candidates an ample or fair amount of time to finish their campaigning. Also, although it is unlikely, something major could happen in the next week that could alter people’s views. We could find out something great, or horrible about one of the candidates, or there could be a national event that controls the outcome. With early voting, people will not be able to switch their vote, which is not fair to the candidates. I realize that it is very uncommon for something like that to happen, but it could.
When it comes to election day, the only real voting problem that could arise is that people are not fully educated on who they are voting for. People could vote for Obama just because they want Republicans out of office, or they could vote for McCain because they don’t want a black man in office rather than looking at their actual policies, which is not fair to either candidate or the country because then the election will be decided based on things that have no real value. Hopefully the state’s have learned from the whole Florida voting chaos that we will not have a major ballot problem again, and I really do not think we will.
Aside from the obvious reasons why having some states vote early seems like a good idea (shorter lines in voting booths) why would this be better? I feel as if the people who do vote prematurely aren’t giving both candidates the opportunity at properly campaigning. Granted, the election has been going on for a long enough time for people to have already declared who they will vote for, but it doesn’t seem right to jump ahead and vote just because its a more efficient way to get it done.
Although unlikely, the results of the sates that vote early might have an impact on how other people vote. Why risk having the opinion of other states influence how others will vote?
I don’t think early voting should be allowed. I think to show that we are a country, working together, we must all vote at the same time, to show our unity. It’s not fair that in some states laws allow people to vote early, but in others they are not. Although it could be benificial to the length of voting lines, it is not enough of a benfit to allow it. I think that early voting will not have much of an effect on this years election. I am very concerned with the way the government dealt with the election in 2000. The way things happened in Florida is unexcusible. That should never happen again. Elections are suppose to be elections, the government is not suppose to just make the decision for the country, of who is going to be president that is not a democracy.
Despite the fact that early voting may be deemed undemocratic and, certainly, in some ways it, the fact that this year will very likely have an enormous voter turnout cannot be ignored.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/27/early.voting/index.html
Any article you read about the way early voting is going says that in any state there is a record high turn out, and to overwhelm the polls on election day provide chance for error.
Although accuracy and ballots that are well-presented to allow the person to vote correctly are of course a priority in this election. Although current polls suggest the victory of a certain candidate by not a small margin, there is still a large possibility that this election may cut it very close (hopefully not though).
I believe that early voting should be allowed. It will shorten lines and make voting a more enjoyable experience. The U.S. has an extremely low percentage of people voting in presidential elections compared to the rest of the world and I believe early voting will help change that. It will bring out more of the younger voters who may not see the importance of waiting hours in line to cast a vote. It’s true that the system has had its problems but with time I believe we will find a way to work out the kinks.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with early voting. My dad sent in his ballot already because he won’t be home, so it’s thanks to early voting that he was able to vote. However, I can see the corruption in it. As long as we don’t mind having another Recount special a la HBO, I don’t see why we shouldn’t have early voting. Then again, there is much debate as to whether or not this will be a close election. I guess we’ll have to find out next Tuesday!
No, I don’t believe its fair at all for some states to have an early vote. If a vote is to occur I believe that all states should only be allowed to vote all at once at the same time to ensure that no votes are influenced by previous votes which is the biggest danger from having a vote like this. I believe with the early voting that has been conducted, some people might change their vote just to balance things out. Who knows. My greatest concern regarding the voting this year is that of accuracy and making sure that all votes are counted correctly. In 2000 Gore lost the election due to Florida going to Bush. But to refresh our memories at the beginning of the night, many television stations had declared the winner of Florida to be Gore, while then in the morning the vote was switched to Bush where he would late be the winner of the presidential election. Thats the greatest issue in my opinion, the accuracy of the votes that are being counted.
I do worry about accuracy problems and sometimes the ends dont justifies the means. However i guess there is no reason to actually stop states from moving up. Besides accuracy there is no other real reason why anyone would have a problem on moving up the election. However why would anyone do that? whats the reasoning behind it. Still sometimes i wonder why not is the real question if we could make sure that accuracy is sure than there really isint any reason against it.
I disagree with the idea of early voting because in these cases when dealing with such important elections everyone should be voting at the same time to keep the situations as uniform as possible. Not only do the early states get to set the mood for the entire election they also may recieve more campaigning then other states because the candidates parties know that once a a group of states votes are made public, it is going to change some ideas on the candidates.
The already tallied votes will no doubt affect some swing voters because of the idea of voting for a cause, and using your ability to vote to actually make a change and not to throw it away to a candidate who is very behind in the polls.
I think that the ides of early voting is unfair and incompetent – in a situation like the Presidential Election everyone should be voting at the same time, because of all of the past election scandals like the Florida one in 2004. There is also the idea that once some states views of candidacy are discovered, it could sway other’s opinion of who they should or should not for. I know that many people see this as a positive thing because it shortens lines and makes the situation a lot easier for many people, but I feel like it messes with the Democratic system of things being fair and equal for everyone.
I think that it is really up to the state how their voting is done but they should still should having voting sites on election day. I don’t see where it is not democratic to vote early, maybe that might make it easier to tally votes. The on problem I would not like to see happen again is a recount. When the Bush Gore recount happened it created a long wait and a questionable victory. The recount would be the worst thing to go happened
I’ve got to agree with GreekGod on this one. The fact that a few states can vote early is ridiculous. It’s unfair that certain states get to vote early and others don’t. Voting early in general is a bad idea, in my opinion. I personally don’t see the need for it and all i see it doing is causing problems. For example if voters, in one of the early voting states, see that Obama is leading McCain then they may decide not to even vote because they feel as though their vote isnt going to count for anything. This effect isn’t limited to that particular state, but the entire country. Also precautions need to be taken to ensure that a fiasco like the 2000 election doesn’t happen again.
Aside from the obvious reasons why early voting would be good idea (shorter lines in voting booths) what are the other perks? I think that the people who vote prematurely aren’t giving the candidates the ample time they deserve to campaign. Granted, the election has been going on long enough for people to have already declared who they are voting for but why change the rules just because its more effecient?
Although unlikely, if people vote early their decisions could sway the decisions of others, why risk that?
Also, people might feel that their vote would be insignificant if they see that either candidate is behind by a great deal.
You cannot cast aside the major advantage of early voting. The election has been going for long enough that people may be already have decided who they are voting for. To answer the question of why change the rules because it is more efficient, because it is more efficient. And it is safe to say the the vote of other people in early voting states will not sway the decision of other people. No one who is planning to vote for a certain candidate will say “oh the other candidate has a lead, i guess i might as well vote for him, or not vote at all.”
In rare situations will the voter be swayed within the last few days. I think it is acceptable to vote early. If you are undecided maybe you should wait until election day. However voting early gives people who may not have the time or be around on election day to still put in theirs votes. This country always talks about how it is out duty to vote, and this a good way to Americans the little push they need to do so. It gives them just one less excuse not to vote.
I think that it is not fair or democratic to have an election where some states vote early. Tuesday is election day and that should be when ALL American citizens cast their ballots. Allowing some states to vote early is not a good idea because a lot can happen in a couple of days and you never know if people will change their minds. I agree with what other people have said regarding the fact that it allows people who are definite in their choice to get a chance to vote early, however, why can’t they just wait until Tuesday? I think that early voting may effect the national election this year because if the general public finds out that one candidate is winning, then they may feel less or more inclined to vote for that candidate. Other than the use of national polls, I think that individual citizens should go into the booth not knowing which candidate is winning.
I think that early voting is a great idea. It decreases lines on election day, makes it more convenient for some people to vote, and thereby encourages people who wouldn’t have voted to vote. As long as the results of the early voters’ votes are not released before polls are closed on election day, I don’t see how anything can be wrong with it.
As to voting problems, I can only hope that we don’t have them, but I’m sure we will. Nothing ever works out perfectly. I’m sure the majority of the states will have perfectly functional voting machines and won’t have problems at all. As long as everyone gets their voice heard and the country doesn’t have to deal with candidates questioning results, I think we’ll be okay. I think whoever is in charge of all this has gone through a lot to make sure that everything is working. Honestly, though, I don’t think that the election will be close enough for 1 or 2 states with problems to make much of a difference.
Agreeing with previous statements I believe that ideal early voting is too unrealistic. In my opinion waiting in a long line once every four years is not too much to ask of people when it comes to making a decision they will be happy with for the next four years. I do, however, disagree with the argument that early voting leaves too much room for change between then and election day because people who are even a little unsure are not forced to vote early and can just wait until Tuesday. Also those who really feel voting on Election Day is really inconvenient or impossible can get an absentee ballot without much hassle. At this time I feel the American population is too large and the voting system too inefficient for early voting to be effective. Should early voting possibly be put closer to Election Day and if there was a way to ensure that so many voting errors do not occur it could possibly be a good idea. This idea would also allow candidates to focus their attention on people that have not voted early yet, which allows a candidate to secure their base and then extend they campaign, which to me makes sense.
It is fair and democratic to have an election where some states have early voting. Organizing elections is a reserved power, so states have the right to set up their own rules regarding elections. If some states choose to begin the voting process earlier, then it is their right to do so. This year’s early voting will expedite the process. It will make the lines shorter and give people another chance to get out and vote. Some may avoid voting on election day solely because of the long lines. Early voting will probably lead to a higher voter turnout. The candidates cannot do much in the last couple days before election day to sway the minds of the voters. Those who have already made a choice of who to vote for will vote for the same candidate, but at an earlier date.
After considering some of the voting problems that officials are worried about and recalling the controversies from the past two elections, my greatest concerns about voting access or accuracy on election day are at the state level. It is in the power of the states to conduct elections. We should look back at the problems that ensued as a result of voting in Florida and learn from the mistakes. Hopefully, voters that share the same names as criminals are allowed the right to vote. Also, there could always be technical difficulties, as most elections are run by machine. This article outlines many voting problems that could potentially lead to inaccuracy.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/10/gearing_up_for.html
I think it is democratic and fair to have early voting. I think voting is voting, no matter when you vote. As long as all eligible citizens over the age of 18 are allowed to vote, the time frame in which they vote should not matter.
I don’t think early voting will have a huge impact on the election. I think that those who will vote early will already have decided who they are voting for and undecided voters will wait until election day to cast their ballot.
My greatest concerns on election day are long lines and inaccurate ballot counting. While long lines could be a sign of strong voter turnout, they also could force people who don’t want to wait in line to turn away from the polls. These long lines are attributed to longer ballots but the question arises as to whether or not voting places are ready for large turnouts and longer lines.
A situation such as this has the potential to create chaos. When this happens, a number of things could go wrong, including ballots being either filled out improperly or counted wrong. Personally, I don’t think I can handle another incident like 2004 where recounts resulted in the Election being dragged out any further. Obama and McCain’s elections have been exhausting to follow and I think most of America is ready for a final outcome.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27464554/page/2/
I feel that early voting should not allowed. I understand that this is one way to increase voter turnout, which i agree that we do need, however i think that there are other ways to increase turnout. The primary example being to make election day a national holiday. Some people cant vote because a shift they work is during the time that the polls are open. Others have business trips or other prior obligations. While absentee ballots work for out of state or country voters, by making election day a national holiday, i think this would increase voter turnout by a significant amount.
as for my fears about the accuracy of election day, i too am concerned that the issue that we faced in 2000 will reoccur. I recently learned that in France, the government hand counts the votes and this method is in fact more accurate than the electronic polling system we use. I think that maybe in order to secure the accuracy of the election, doing everything by hand would not be a bad idea. Although i think that voting electronically is a lot faster and more efficient, i think that i would rather have the votes be more accurate.
Just a few suggestions and ideas to think about.
I don’t feel that it is undemocratic for some states to have early voting while others do not. Inconvenient: yes, but every state offers the option of an absentee ballot, so those who want to avoid long lines on election day still have that option. However, I do believe that all states should make an effort to adopt more universal absentee ballot rules as to make the process less ambiguous and ensure an equal playing field. I feel that you shouldn’t have to give a reason in order to request an absentee ballot.
One concern I have regarding election day is voter confusion at the polls. In 2000, many voters in FL felt they were voting for one candidate (Gore) when in reality they voted for another(Buchanan). States need to make sure voting equipment is unambiguous and easy to understand. I also fear that people will just be too lazy to go out and vote, especially in swing states. Also, confusion regarding voter registration, another problem presented in 2000, is another concern I have.
I think that it is fair and democratic to have early voting, and I think that all states should have early voting. Pam Fessler of NPR, cited the example of people waiting as long as ten hours on line to vote on election day. That disenfranchises those who just don’t have the time to wait in line to go vote. Early voting mitigates this problem, by allowing more people to vote before hand, and thus shortening the lines one election day. Also, if you know that you have to work on election day, and are going to have a hard time getting to the polls, you can vote ahead of time, thus enfranchising more people. However, I think that you should only vote early ahead of time if you are sure of who you are going to vote for and know that nothing is going to sway your choice.
The biggest concern I have for voting on election day is making sure the voting booths are easier to understand. I know that in 2000, there was confusion over which candidate you were voting for when you pulled a lever and this completely changed the outcome of the election. I hope that machines such as those in Florida are fixed so everyone knows exactly who they are voting for.
While I do not think it is fair to have some states vote early while others do not, I do think that early voting is a great idea and should be enacted, on at least some level, by every state.
If you give citizens of one state the option of voting early, you are, in a sense, giving them more power than other states because they are setting the tone for the election. People across the country see the polls and how voting has gone so far and it oculd change the way some of the candidates campaign towards and who they target. Also, becuase only some states have early voting, it takes away attention form the states who do not give that option because they are less important to the candidate at that given time.
However, I do think that it is a good idea if every state enacted it because it would probably help get more voters to the polls. I tihnk that early voting will play a big role in helping to get a much higher percentage of the electorate to the polls than there has been in recent elections. It gives people more days that they can vote. In some states, such as Colorado, over 50 percent of the electorate voted early. I think that this shows how positive early voting can be because it draws more people to the polls that might not be able to come on election day.
On election day, the main thing that I am worried about that could hinder voter participation is the long lines at the polls. If people see a wait that could take them hours, they may decide that it is not worth their time. Also, many people don’t have that much free time in their day and would need to be in and out of the voting booth in a very short amount of time. Having early voting option could help with this issue because it means less people will be voting on teh same day. If people are worried about lines, they can go not on eleciton dya, it will probably be much less crowded, and this will also decrease the lines on election day.
Another main voting issue is faulty machinery. If machines are not recording votes correctly or functioning properly, then it can throw off the results for an entire district and the ballots may have to be deemed invalid. However, if there is early voting, these problems can be identified and hopefully fixed before the election day rush. Two of the main problems that voters face on election day can be fixed with early voting
Although I believe that early voting is not Democratic, I do believe it is a fair way to get people to come out and vote.
The reason for this belief of mine is because there are many factors on Election Day that cause people not to vote at all. For some it might be the rain outside, so people don’t want to go out and vote. With states allowing early voting, if you want to vote and worry about whether or happen to be too busy to vote on Election Day, this is a great way to aid in voter turnout.
Also early voting allows people who have very strong and clear support for a certain candidate to send in their vote and halt any affects of negative campaigning from swaying their vote. With this option, you create a strong voter base and turnout.
I don’t really believe that the early voting will impact that election in a big way. It might aid in one of the candidates popular vote, but besides that, nothing really.
I think that early voting is okay as long as everyone has access to it. Unfortunately this is not the case as election laws vary from state to state. Voting would be fairer if the federal government set guidelines for early voting and voter identification, however logistically this might not work. Overall though, I think that the idea behind early voting is fair. It can be beneficial because it shortens lines the day of the election. By voting early a person gives up their chance to change their mind before election day. My greatest concern about the about access and accuracy on election day is that not all people and communities will have a proportionate share of voting machines. I think it is ridiculous that some communities have less voting resources because of the political beliefs of election officials. Voting turnout in America is already low, and not everyone is willing to wait in line for hours to vote.
I do not think it is fair for there to be early voting in some states, but not others. If there is early voting, it needs to be across the board to give people in all states equal opportunity to vote. The fact that nationwide more than 30% are casting early/absentee votes shows that there is a desire for this possibility; therefore, the government, if they want to truly be representative of the will of the people, they should meet that need by extending early voting to ALL citizens. Because early voting is done in 34 states, all citizens need to be granted the benefit of making voting fit in their schedule should be extended to all. Early voting this year will give lower income people a head up on the polls because frequently they are the population that cannot miss work or work around their hours to get to the polling places. These lower income people and minorities tend most often to vote democratic, consequently giving Obama a heads up on the polls and can possibly swing the vote in his favor.
Allowing people to vote before everyone else will likely have a negative effect because the President is a national election but allowing some to vote before others this does not keep the national election on the same national level instead some states are voting earlier and allowing their votes to be known earlier to. This especially can have a negative effect because in a state like New Jersey that is pretty much always Democratic many people can say that they do not need to vote because their vote does not truly count being that the state will already be Democratic. I think that if swing states allow for their votes to be done earlier than people in set political ideology states will probably not come out and vote because they know that their vote does not matter as much as the swing state votes. This will also show who is more in a lead and many people will say that since their candidate already is wining why they should come out and vote when their candidate will probably already win. With knowledge of the votes known earlier this may decrease voters because they will feel that their vote does not matter as much.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/03/voter.hotline/index.html?iref=newssearch
There are 31 states that allow anybody to vote early. I don’t think that any states should have early voting unless voters truly can’t get to the polls on election day for a legitimate reason. Each candidate should have up until the very last day to campaign and attempt to appeal to every last voter. People are already starting to write-off John McCain simply because many people have voted for Barack Obama in early voting. People may see that their candidate is losing in early voting in their state so they won’t bother voting at all.
The only positive to early voting is it shortens lines at voting booths. There are other things that can be done to shorten lines at voting booths. There should be more places to vote, more voting booths, and possibly even the time allowed to vote should be extended to 2 days.
I disagree with most previous posters about the nature of Early voting. If early voting expands the enfranchised population, then I’m absolutely all for it. A democracy can’t exist unless people vote; if early voting removes an obstacle to voting, then it shouldn’t be seen as a negative. However, i don’t think that this is going to have a very large affect on the election as a whole.
I’m worried, as usual, about old voting machines that could cause confusion. I’m worried about disenfranchisement tactics. I’m worried that the media will call the race too soon, and we’ll have another 1948 on our hands. But we’ll just have to wait and see.
I’m undecided on whether it’s fair or not to let certain states start voting early. Its somewhat fair in that its not fair that they have more people to vote and not enough time to vote. If theres a larger population in some areas, they should have a longer time to vote so everyone can have the chance. But i also feel that leaving the polls open longer will give room for more error. Im not sure how, but something is bound to go wrong, maybe people will try to vote more than once or something. depending on how its run, early voting could be a good idea, or maybe we just need a better system of voting so that lines wont be so long. Since this elsection is a national election, and with all the issues of the country, more people are going to vote, so maybe its just htis election, and elections of the future may not be as popular. and if people cant get to the polls, well, that just sucks for them. The polls should be open to a certain time and then let everyone in line vote.
I think early voting is a risky option for states to give its citizens. If someone has a legitimate reason that prevents them from getting to the polls on Nov. 4, they can fill out an absentee ballot. It’s unecessary, and it’s also unfair and potentially problematic if all states do not have the early voting option. Other than to bemake voting more convenient, early voting was also set up in certain states to attract a higher voter turnout rate. If we want to make voting more convenient and more accessible for everyone, changes should be made on the national level. If the federal government were to dictate such a change, I think making election day a National Holiday would be more effective than creating a uniform early voting option. If Election Day were a National Holiday, I definitely believe more people would be encouraged to come out and cast their ballots because a day off from work would make it easier to get to the polls and would also highlight and celebrate the importance of democracy and the poewr of the vote.
I do believe that it is fair to allow early voting because in certain states that had an enormous influx in voter registration need time to get everyone to vote. There is a need for early voting in this election. Yes there is an absentee ballot, but who really wants to fill that thing out. The process for getting in your absentee ballot is a long and painful process. This deters people from sending them in, since they strike fear into people. It may be unfair for states that don’t allow it, but as many have stated before, you need to have a legitimate excuse for not being able to vote on Nov. 4 to vote early. Its the same thing that goes with the absentee ballot. It may not be democratic, but now a days what is.
I don’t find early voting to be a problem. I feel that if someone is going away or has a justified reason they should be able to cast there vote. We have low voting turn out compared to other countries and I believe that we do need early voting so that more people become involved. I feel that many people avoid the long lines and get discouraged. If everyone will end up voting then what’s the big deal? For the person voting early, they may regret their early vote if they then are unsure of the candidate.
Also I’m exceptionally concerned with voting problems. We’ve had them in the past, so we can expect them in the future. Some problems are simply counting the votes, which can take away votes from a certain candidate or even add votes. Other problems can be with old machines, which should be updated. I hope none of these problems occur, however those in power must keep an eye out for problems.
I think that early voting is a very good idea because it reduces the chaos and havoc that is caused by swarms of people pouring into voting poll stations. Like hardsun424 post#1 said, there is much room for human error in counting the votes correctly. With early voting, some people would vote early, thus reducing the heavy traffic in voting on Election Day, which in turn would help ease the pressure on people who have to the count the votes. In addition, some people perhaps are not able to vote because they have obligations in Election Day. And it is not fair for people not to vote solely because they can’t, due to time restrictions and/or responsibilities. It is America’s democratic nature to provide means by which every American who wants to vote is able to vote. And with early voting, more people would be able to. Since more people would be voting, the election would run more accurately due to the participation of more voters.
One thing the government or whoever should work on, is expanding the privilege of early voting to all the states. Early voting is a really good idea and should spread throughout all America to provide more incentives for Americans to vote, knowing that they would not be repealed by the long lines and long waiting.
I believe that it is “fair and democratic” for some states to allow early voting. I think that this year will see a massive influx in voters. This will make voting (and counting ballots) very difficult. By allowing some states to vote early, they are reducing lines at the poll, allowing local election committees to get an organizational head start, and reduce overall election day chaos. As far as demographics go, I think early voting will be done by individuals who would normally vote anyway. An effect of early voting though, may be that individuals who would not normally vote, due to long line or unpleasant conditions, will vote because there will be less people physically at the poles on election day.
I feel that after the last two elections, voting problems will be at the top of everyone’s watch list. The main thing that needs to happen this year is that the voting process needs to be simpler. Confusion must be avoided and all votes must be genuine. I also think that it is really important that all all of the votes actually get counted. It is said that in 2000, many votes were simply thrown away. Whether or not this is actually true, it should not even be an issue.
I think that voting early is very fair and democratic. The United States has some of the lowest voter turnout in the world and early voting will make it easier for people to vote. Not voting makes this country less democratic. The more people that vote the more democratic this nation is. I think that more states should have early voting to increase the number of voters.
I think that in this election it is very important that there is no confusion with how to vote. It has been questioned what the problems were with the past voting problems and if it was confusion I think that needs to be taken care of. I also think that is very important that every vote is counted no matter what.
I personally believe that early voting is a good thing. I think early voting really expands the electorate. I think to a certain extent, early voting takes the hassle out of voting. People in states like Florida and Virginia may decide not to vote only because their lines are so long not because they do not have a favorite candidate. It gives everyone a chance to make it to the polls, so no one will get left behind. I think early voting will be a success so more states will decide to follow the pattern.
I think that one my concerns about voting and this election is that some of the absentee ballots may not be counted fairly as they were in 2000. This could delay the entire electoral process by weeks or months.
The British Perspective on 2000 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3960679.stm
After reading many of the above comments I am still split wether I think having early voting is a good idea or not. I understand many peoples’ concern that it is antidemocratic because it allows for possible voter persuasion if results are allowed to become public, however I do think that some things need to be done to increase voter turn out. Im not sure if these methods are the best way of doing that, because the process seems complicated and therefore would most likely cater to people who would of have voted anyways, but I do think that something needs to be done about voter turn out.
The bigger concern for me was and is the possible contraverseries that stem due to rumors about polls. Not only are many of these rumors unfounded and ridiculous, but they are definately unfair and targeted towards people who may be ignorant about the voting procress for a number of uncontrollable reasons. I have to disagree with a previous blogger that said that there is little confusion about how to vote. My sister lives outside of philly and has seens flyers posted around the city they warn potential voters that if they show up to the polls with any parking tickets or outstanding finds they will get arrested. Because of there ridiculous nature these rumors intrigued me and I searched online to find out more about them.
On MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27524346/, I found an article called, “A Few Problems Reported at Polls” Here are some examples of the unfortunate rumors they have heard about….
“…early voting totals don’t count for Election Day”
“… if your house is in foreclosure (then your vote) won’t count.”
“….parking tickets must first be paid before a person can vote.”
“…. there are separate elections for Democrats and Republicans.”
While I was not concerned that these rumors would significantly effect voter turn out, I am concerned about the basic commradority of citizens. It is quite unfortunate that each of these rumors is targeted towards a specific group of people, the less fortunate, for example. It seems completely contradictory to the fact that each candidate attempted to promote the idea of bipartisanism, and these attacks still occur. Ofcourse, they are inevatible and this type of intimidation has been going on for ages, but the low moral it fosters is still something to be very concerned about.
I do believe that it is fair to allow early voting, as long as it is with good reason. If someone is going to be out of the country or away at school on Election Day I think they should be allowed to cast their ballot before leaving their precinct. Allowing people with legitimate reasons to vote early does not make our country any less democratic, if anything it makes us more democratic by allowing more people to vote. I do not think that early voting will affect the election because even if people are voting a day or two early, they would still be voting for the same person if they were to show up to the polls on the first Tuesday of November so it should not have any impact on the final outcome.
Problems with voting are in some ways inevitable. There will always be people who do not understand or are not able to vote the way that they want to. Human error is always a factor. But my hope is that even given the possibility that polling locations won’t have enough ballots or won’t have people’s names on their lists, Obama will have enough states turn his way that the close calls won’t be a factor. Nobody wants to see another Florida of the 200 election, but it does not make any sense to me that this country, the wealthiest and the most powerful in the history of the world, cannot get it together and figure out how to make voting easy and error-free.
I agree, I do think that it is fair to allow early voting. If people are sure of their choice for president, why not allow them to vote early to avoid waiting in line for hours on election day? I believe that there are some educated people out there who know what they want, and if they choose to, should be allowed to get what some consider to be a burdensome task out of the way. There are also other reasons people have for voting early, like if you cannot take off work on election day or if you do not want to fill out an absentee ballot because you will be away on the big day. There are multiple circumstances that decide whether or not we can make it to the polls, and if people are more likely to vote early then on election day, I think it should be an option to increase voter participation. Granted, there will be some inaccuracies due to this, but there are inaccuracies with the normal polls – see 2004, with the Florida recounts. This is a poor excuse for not allowing people to vote early. My only concern would be if they tried to vote again, and the chances of this are slim as well.
Election Day only lasts for one day, and unfortunately for some people, voting can become a burden. People may feel like they won’t have enough time in their day to vote, or they won’t want to wait in the line to vote. When there is a larger voter turnout, a more equal representation of the country’s beliefs is represented; therefore, measures should be taken in order to make voting an appealing process to everyone. Early voting is something that would help this. Those who feel as though they won’t have an adequate amount of time during the day to go vote could vote early, thus minimizing the use of “lack of time” as a reason for not voting. Early voters will also minimize the amount of people who go to vote on Election Day, which will make lines smaller and allow regular voters to benefit as well.
There seems to be no downside to voting early. It will eliminate the numbers waiting in line on Election Day and prevent voters from blaming their busy schedules or the specific polling locations for not taking part in the process on November 4th. In the past, people have had to wait as long as ten hours to cast their vote. These types of issues could leave the voters with feelings of resentment, affecting their likeliness to vote in future elections. Voters are also likely to grow tired of waiting on the line and simply leave before they get a chance to step inside the booth. Early voting and voting by mail helps to make voting more convenient for everyone.
Hopefully the increase in early voting will alleviate the agony of waiting on lines, yet I am still concerned that some people may not get a turn before the booths close. I hope each district provides enough polling locations, so the issue of long lines does not occur.
The problem is not with early voting, but the fact that early voting is not available throughout the country. Early voting is not only fair and democratic; it should be mandatory for all States. The three main arguments against early voting are: 1) inequality of voting periods between States; 2) early voting States sways the vote of those who have not cast their votes; 3) the inability of voters to change their mind before election day once they are locked-in to one candidate. To make the process fair for all, early voting should be mandatory in all 50 States and it should be done simultaneously (i.e. all polls to open on the last Tuesday of October and closed with the General Election on the first Tuesday of November). This will guarantee that all voters are treated equally and it will also eliminate the question of swaying the votes of other States. It will also help if all information/results of the early votes are withheld until the general election day. Statistics shows that more than half of the electorate made-up their minds on the candidate(s) of their choice months ahead of Election Day, I don’t think that voting one week ahead of time will sway too many voters to the other side.
The advantages of early voting outweigh the disadvantages. It is no surprise that more people voted early in this election than at any other time in our history. Early voting increases voters turnout. It helps relieve the congestion at the polling stations and reduces the number of disenfranchised voters by detecting and correcting problems before the final day of voting. In order to make our election a true national election, we must have a Uniform Election Law. We should not have one set of law that governs Florida and another for New Jersey. This will eliminate a lot of the problems we currently have in our electoral system.
I see it that early voting really isn’t a big deal. The only issue that I don’t quite understand is why it’s only done in some states and not in others. To me early voting potentially allows easier access to voting booths. Theoretically there would be a higher voter turn out. Many people believe that early voting is not very fair to the candidates because “anything” could happen with in the last week of the election. But honestly I doubt that much could come up this late into the race that would make me change my mind. Each candidate has already dug up dirt on his opponent. I think we all know more about both of them than we ever wanted to know….
By this point into the election, many people have already made up their minds as to who to vote for, and there are others who strictly vote for one party each election. I don’t see why it is such a problem if you allow the people who have made up their minds to vote a few days earlier. It would give the people who have their minds set the chance to vote in comfort without long lines, and as for others who still want to wait it out and make it through the last week, then they can vote on the last day.
The good news is that not everyone has to vote early. Early voting is optional. The only negative outcome is the inaccuracy of the votes. Some voting centers may have technical difficulties and alter some votes. But I don’t think that really happens that much. Technical difficulties can happen at any time. What makes early voting more susceptible to inaccuracy than normal voting?
In general, I think that early voting is a good idea and is fair. It is optional and it makes voting much easier. It is a good way to encourage many people to vote giving them the time to take part in an election. Rather than cramming millions of votes into one day, we should extend the time limit that voters have, and what better way to do it than giving them a week. It was mentioned by Alex1 that one way to shorten lines is to extend the voting time by 2 days. Why would you ask for two days when you can have one to two weeks?
Yea early voting seems like a great way to get more votes but when taken into action it seems it would only bring more problems to the election and voting process and it’s not trully democratic if not allowed in every state. That is not, by any means equal for US citizens or for the canidates. People living in swing states could easily change their mind due to early voting in other states and they think they should just vote for who is winning where people already voted. If people all vote at once it these things won’t have to be an issue. Although early voting may be fair and democratic it most likely increased the voter turnout immensely, which is a great thing seeing as more Americans felt it neccessary to have their voices heard. I’m sure with a bigger time frame to vote in more people were able to get around to voting. But there are also absentee ballots for people who can’t vote on election day so then why have early voting? It may increase the voter turnout but it might not be neccessary and only create conflict that since not every state allows this and that is not fair nor democratic.
With this election I can only hope that every vote was a real person and their wasn’t any scamming invovled, however that would be vurtially impossible. Other than that I’m very happy with the election turnout and happy to be a part of such a historic moment for America.
I really don’t see a HUGE need for early voting, but I have to say it encourages more people to go out and vote who maybe don’t have the chance to on Election Day.Early voting in some states and not others is not democratic obviously. I personally believe early voting should be availble in all states. Early voting makes everything so much more convenient for not only voters who have previously waited in lines, but for the people running the voting. I think early voting should be encouraged in all states because of it’s convenience, even if a few more people have to be hired to run voting for more than one day. If you’re not going to make it on election day, they vote early. This option is designed be for disabled people, elderly people, and people who are going to be “out of town”. In some states like the NPR Podcast said, require a person to be out of town to recieve an absentee ballot. I believe that disabled and elderly people should be given an absentee ballot if they don’t go to vote, (early or not).
Voter fraud is one concern I have about the election. The only problem with early voting is the mass potential of voter fraud. Early voting makes it so much easier for scamers to sneak in votes before anything happens. In addition I think I share the opinion of the country when I say that I hope another Florida Recount doesn’t repeat history. I can only hope that electronic votes are ALL counted this time.
I don’t fancy the idea of voting earlier then other states for a plethora of reasons To begin with it’s not even democratic to me, I believe that everyone should vote in a shorter amount of time, I can see an extension of two days but weeks prior to the event? It’s a big risk, your putting your presumptions up, what if in some reason you find that you do not favor a candidate two weeks later because he/she has done something? Too late then. Say if all states allowed earlier voting, my thought is I’d like to know how the candidates themselves react to the voters whom have voted in advance, do the candidates get over confidant and slack off the rest of the race because they know they’ll win. Or opposite even give up because the early voters. Like I said, I could see an implement of two days so in case if you cannot vote due to your job or whatever the reason may be, you have a second chance. The poll lines shortening can simply be done by having more of the machines that take in our votes. (However they do typically cost more then what I think their worth.) What if knowledge gained on how much a state is leaning for a certain candidate effects your vote? What if there are those whom become influenced by the flow of other states.
Access to vote, simply for that you can just have more polling stations. Or who knows, if we may figure out a way to vote securely off of our own home computers. That could be risky as well as I would consider the voting machines. Any piece of technology can be hacked, it’s common sense, or even destroyed due to a error in its programming. There are a multitude of issues which could risk votes being counted. Even getting the troops votes, for example. there isn’t’ any mail service out in the battlefield. That in itself hinders both accuracy and access to voting.
Personally i think that if early voting is going to be allowed in some states then it should be allowed in all. We have a democratic government and only having early voting in 34 states is completely un-democratic. In my opinion early voting also kind of deprives early voters of the last minute attempts from the nominees. If i were to vote i would rather vote on time rather than earlier because if i were to second guess myself i would feel better about it being on the day of the election as oppossed to stewing over it for the however many days before the actual election. However, because not everyone has the same mindset as i do, i think that early voting would be a great idea if it occured across the country. It is convenient for people who may not be able to make it to the polls on election day and it could also decrease congestion at polling locations.
Since the recount incident during the Bush/Gore election, i became a little weary of voting methods. However, I think that most locations now do voting electronically which makes me feel better about the actual results of the election. Voter fraud is also a problem that can occur and another reason why many states may not offer the early voting option. Voting methods have progressed over the years, though, so i think Americans can feel a little more comfortable when casting their votes.
I don’t think early voting is a problem at all. Many people would be angry (I know I would be) if I were out of the country that day and could not vote. So many people would then not be able to vote at all. That is a ridiculous idea, seeing as there is a solution, and that is early voting. However, I DO disagree with early voting not being available in every state. This is hardly fair – it should be everywhere or no where at all. Early voting is hardly cheating – those people voting early would have voted the same way on actual election day. I think the fact that many Republicans are trying to close early election places in predominately Democratic areas is a sign of fear. I’m sure they would not care had the voting booths been in a Republican area.
I doubt many people’s opinions would change in such a short time, unless something extremely bad happened. However, I think a lot of people are so set in their beliefs that they wouldn’t change them anyway.
I think, however, that only people with legitimate reasons should be allowed to vote early. For example, a person who will be out of the country.
I don’t believe that states should be allowed to open their polls early for registered voters. I know that every state has different methods of voting, which can result in stressful disorganization on election day, but I don’t think that this issue permits some states to let voters vote early. While voting early can be beneficial to people working at polls by reducing the business of election day, it comes with a great risk. In states where voting takes place on one day, there are fewer votes from people under false identities. It is hard for people who want to vote with fake names to get off many votes in just one day, but with voting early, these people have more time to get out these votes under false names.
I honestly think the only problem with early voting is that it’s not available in every state. Some people have legitmate reasons for not being able to vote on election day, so why should they then be denied that right? Just because they are unable to make it to the polls on election day shouldn’t negate the fact that they have a voice and it should be heard. I believe that there should be measures taken to spread early voting to all the states. It’ll be a much more fair process that way; regardless of state people will be able to submit their vote early if they feel the need to. There is also the possibility that without early voting, the polls would be much more hectic and crowded on election day. If all the people who would normally vote early had to instead vote on election day, the results probably wouldn’t be very good. I can’t say for sure, since I don’t know what percentage of people vote early, but I feel like it would be substantial enough to make a difference at the polls.
I do not think early voting is an issue whatsoever. Knowing who is winning the election does not change the mind of the voter. Regardless of if someone’s winning, that will not make them vote for the “underdog” just because he is losing. I feel it is just an advantage to the candidates so that they have a better idea of which states to try and win votes in. The only possible issue is the idea of it not being available in every state. Regardless of this fact both sides of the party are hurt. Not only democrats need to vote early so potentially it will even out.
On voting day I do not feel there will be any major problems. I think we are fairly prepared for anything coming our way, and if not there will be no catastrophes in which more than .1% is affected at all.
I think that there are some pros and cons of early voting. For the candidates purposes, early voting doesn’t allow for them to reach out to certain states and have as much last minute effect on those who vote earlier than the actual election day. I personally don’t really think that the last few days of the election will truly turn voters from one side to another, but then again, swing states are the one’s that sometimes need the last minute words to help them decide. If someone casts their ballot and then decides they would like to switch, obviously that can’t happen with early voting. I don’t see anything unfair or undemocratic about the situation though. One of the big things about the election day is not being able to vote because of work, and as crystalline3rain said, it’s unfair for people to not be able to vote because they’re working. With early voting it would make it more convinient for some.
Neo17 made a good point though. Will the work ethic change for the candidates if they see that voters are voting for or against them? It’s a solid point. Will the candidates still want to work harder if they know they’re in the lead, or will the candidate falling behind work less because they think they’ll lose? Although I don’t think the candidate’s would work any less, since they came in running for the presidency & knew someone wouldn’t win, it’s still up in the air.
Another problem as mentioned by ohnineraiders with early voting is voter fraud. As mentioned in class, with early voting it is MUCH easier for people to possibly vote more than once. This will mess up the votes and possibly even change the winner.
One of the problems of voting access is people that work. Sometimes people are not able to commute extra to get to a public school to vote, which makes it somewhat unfair in the voting aspect. I think that sometimes this may be why the Bradley affect may occur? Maybe people have the ability to vote ahead of time but come the actual day they don’t get a chance to get to the poles. Who knows! I think that they should find more central areas for people that do work in situations like these. Also, those who are unable to commute to a school area with a lack of transportation should also be able to come up with some way to find a more local voting spot, or maybe even figure out some kind of “voting bus”.
In terms of accuracy, problems can occur when dealing with hand voting, or broken machines. There are always glitches in the system and no matter how great the technology is today, something always manages to go wrong. With situations like that in 2004, the simplest amount of votes gone wrong can “cause a pause” in any election. We’re lucky to see that didn’t happen this time around.
I also feel early voting should be left up to the state, and I can understand how it does make things easier for the voter. No one wants a repeat of the 2004 Bush and Kerry election where we were still tallying votes weeks after the election. It seems early voting reduces the risk of the 2004 voting.
I think early voting is democratic. There may be aspects of inequity between states that have it and states that don’t, but this is not a high-priority problem. I think it’s hard to call anything that encourages civic duty, such as early voting, undemocratic, and unless there is an aspect of unfairness that I am unaware of, I think early voting should be extended to all communities, in all 50 states. Early voting helps ensure that everyone who wants to vote has the opportunity, by providing extended access. The arguments that some Republicans are making against early voting have no solid legal basis and are motivated by the fact that Republicans are not so popular among early voters.
In retrospect, early voting was very favorable for the Democrats. It also gave the media extensive fodder for making predictions. And because the media made so many projections and predictions, I think a sort of “self-fulfilling prophecy” effect developed. What I mean by that is, the more the media speculated about a future event in the election, the more likely that speculation was to materialize. I have no idea how large or small of a factor this was, but I believe there was some effect.
Regarding the second question: I did not really have any concerns about voting problems because I felt that if the Democrats who were expected to win could not win their elections with a strong enough majority to preclude “voting problems” or the alleged “Ralph Nader Effect” of 2000, they didn’t deserve to win, especially considering how strong their platform was. I expected the Democrats to win big, to make voting problems a non-issue, and the Democrats fulfilled my expectations with authoritative majorities. The races that are currently being reexamined and recounted, which are few, did encounter some voting problems, but are being recounted primarily because of their closeness, and will most likely turn out the same way the original counts suggested. Sorry Al Franken!
I think that, when it comes to presidential elections, the voting system needs to be much more cohesive throughout the country in order to make sure it is as fair as possible. The different laws all over the country can make voting confusing difficult and can actually end up driving people away. The flaws that we constantly see in voting always cause major problems on Election Day, especially in the 2000 election. I think that it’s important for the voting process to be more inclusive and so I think that early voting should be open to those who wish to partake in it or cannot make it to the polls on Election Day. I don’t think that the results of these polls should ever be released though until Election Day and that this option should be open to all states and not just some. Variation within the voting laws between the states for a national election just doesn’t make sense to me. This year, Election Day went smoother, from what I saw, than in the past two presidential elections and voter turnout was at an all time high, showing attempts to fix the system, which I was glad to see. I volunteered with the Obama campaign in the days just before the election, and I hadn’t expected to see that they were offering voters information on their polling location and offering a carpool service to those who didn’t have a ride to the polls. I thought that was nice of them.
I do not think that early voting has an affect on the election and that it is democratic. Personally, I think that voting should take place over a couple of days so that it is possible to get as many votes as possible from Americans. This way everyone can maintain a schedule that suits them and vote without having to worry about long lines. With the election taking place mostly in one day though, it causes excitement. It is more than just an election, it is an event. If the election was expanded over a few days, the pitiful voter turnout that this country receives could grow to be more respectable numbers. There will not be a sway in opinion based on who is winning because most people decide who they are voting for before the last few days to the election.
My greatest concern with this election was the voter fraud. I think that there may have been people registering to vote more than once with a fake ID. Another concern that I have is that absentee ballots may not be counted. There are much more than previous elections due to the amount of soldiers over seas right now. It would not be fair to the country to ignore these votes.
I don’t think there is a problem to early voting. On Election Day, with the endless lines, many people may be turned off by the long hours of waiting and feel that they are not obligated to vote. Also, allowing early voting will ensure that more eligible voters can actually vote for many people have responsibilities and obligations that they need to tend to.
I also think the availability of more voting polls is essential to more accurately representing the majority of America. One of my friends, who works at a senior citizen center, was telling me how there was a 90-year old woman who strongly advocated for Obama but wasn’t able to vote because of her disability. There were no booths nearby the senior center. Just because she was an elderly, she still had a valid opinion towards the election, but this was disregarded. In the end, she wasn’t able to participate in an election of this historacy.
I see no reason why voting early is undemocratic. If anything, it brings in voters who might not vote often because they can’t vote on election day (I think of a person working at McDonald’s 12 hours a day to make rent who can’t leave work). As it is, we do not have a national holiday on Election Day, so many people don’t have the time to go vote. Unless there is some way that the early votes could be rigged that the Election day votes couldn’t, there is no downside. Higher voter turnout is something that can be acheived with early voting, and higher voting is something to be valued because when more people vote the government is more representative of the population it governs.
Early voting will have the most effect in urban centers where there would be voting congestion. In past elections there have been problems where people had to wait hours to vote, and this is a problem. Even though urban centers vote Democratic by and large, I support an actual democracy over a half democracy where only half of the population is represented. These votes will only help soon-to-be-President Barack Obama, but I would rather have Obama win outright than McCain win because Obama’s voters were denied the right to vote.