A third of electorate could vote before Nov. 4

[Nambe]

Source:

Election Day will be something of an afterthought for tens of millions of Americans — they'll be voting well ahead of time.

In fact, six weeks out from Election Day, some voters in Kentucky, South Carolina and Virginia already are done.

Nationwide, about a third of the electorate is expected to vote early this year, thanks to expanded early voting provisions and fewer restrictions on absentee voting, researchers project. In all, more than 30 states allow any registered voter to cast an early ballot, some in person and others by mail. ...

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080921/ap_on_el_pr/early_voting;_ylt=ApphfLi90ntnl7u6pYaaUflp24cA

[beyurslf]

1. I will vote by mid-October. My request is already in.

[Fearless]

2. I will as soon as my ballot shows up.

[frog92969]

3. I wouldn't dream of not showing up in person.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4048879

Not that it guarantees much.

[Doctor_J]

4. Uh-oh

Your early vote in a swing state will likely not be counted, esp if you're in a heavily Dem area.

[L0oniX]

5. Source?

[billionbucks]

8. I'd suspect

that in heavily Dem areas would be more likely to get them counted, especially since it is at the local level.

The accuracy and amount of voting machines is a different story

[davidinalameda]

6. I vote absentee

so I always vote early, although I might just drop it at the polls instead of mailing it in

[billionbucks]

7. Indiana allows early voting

and I've early voted in almost every election thus far

[southern_belle]

9. Early voting starts today in some states

Source: By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY

Voters by the thousands will begin casting ballots for president this week in an early voting process that's expected to set records this year.

Residents of Virginia, Kentucky and Georgia are among the first in the nation eligible to vote in person, as well as by mail. During the next few weeks, at least 34 states and the District of Columbia will allow early in-person voting for Nov. 4 elections.

Experts such as Paul Gronke of the Early Voting Information Center predict nearly a third of the electorate will vote early this year, up from 15% in 2000 and 20% in 2004. In closely contested Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, about half the voters are expected to cast ballots before Election Day. Florida could be 40%.

"It's a sea change," says Rosemary Rodriguez, head of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. "This is a little bit astounding."


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-21-early-voting_N.htm

---

Get out there and vote, folks! :patriot:

[still_one]

10. I am curious if there will really be much pre-voting before the first debate /nt

[still_one]

11. self=delete DUPLICATE POST

[TechBear_Seattle]

12. How can this possibly be constitutional?

Article II, Section 1, paragraph 4: The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States.

What am I missing?

[keithjx]

13. As far as Montana law is concerned....

"Thus Webster's New International Dictionary defines "cast" as "to deposit (a ballot) formally or officially." It is not the marking but the depositing of the ballot in the custody of the election officials which constitutes casting the ballot or vote. <*224> Obviously, unless it reaches the officials it is never cast at all, whether or not it is marked for any candidate, or forwarded by mail or otherwise. The fact that the ballot has to be marked before its casting can indicate the voter's intent, should not obscure the fact that it is still of no effect until it is deposited with the election officials, by whom the will of the voters must be ascertained and made effective." Maddox v. Board of State Canvassers, 116 Mont. 217 (1944).

So the idea is that ballots can be marked BEFORE election day but are not CAST (deposited with the election office) until election day.

BTW, the problem Montana faced in the above case was trying to extend the time soldier could cast their ballots PAST election day. That provision was struck down.

Hope this helps.
KJ

[harmonicon]

14. that's for electors

as in, the electoral college - this is voting to assign those electors, individually regulated by each state.

[TechBear_Seattle]

15. No, there are two separate dates given in this clause

The Congress may determine the time of (1) choosing the electors, and (2) the day on which they shall give their votes....

Congress has done so. Under federal law, all electors are chosen on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November (next is November 4, 2008), and the electors give their votes on the third Monday in December (next is December 15, 2008.)

Like I said, I don't understand how states can allow for early voting. States can accept early ballots, but only on the provison that the ballots are stored securely and remain unopened and uncounted until the day appointed by federal law. It seems stupid and the very height of civic irresponsibility to cast a ballot now and allow it to be stored for a month and a half in who knows how unsafe a facility. But then, the whole press to eliminate Election Day polling places is designed to make elections much easier to steal.

[harmonicon]

16. I still don't see your point

That all has to do with electors, not with individuals voting for those electors. I don't really see how it's that different from absentee voting. I can't even remember the last time I voted in person for a general election. It's not as if tallies are released prior to the closing of polling places. I wish every state would have such early voting. Requiring everyone to show up to a particular polling place on the same day seems like a very strange holdover from hundreds or thousands of years ago, like a Roman census.

[TechBear_Seattle]

17. The electors must be chosen on the same date, accross the country

States cannot decide that Election Day will be the third Tuesday in September and that electors will be chosen by the voters on that day rather than on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. If a state were to try and do that, they would be violating the Constitution.

As for your comment about early voting, keep in mind that storing ballots for a month and a half before they can constitutionally be opened and tallied makes it much, much easier to steal elections. I think the inconvenience of physically showing up at a polling place is more than made up for by the security of knowing that my ballot will not be "lost in the mail" or "get misplaced" or that a fire "accidentally" breaks out in the storage facility holding tens of thousands of ballots. Picking convenience and laziness over civic responsibility is just plain stupid.

[harmonicon]

19. Do you want to pay the $2,000 for me to fly home and vote?

I don't really see how voting by absentee ballot is picking convenience or laziness over civic responsibility. A vote is a vote. As for your claim that voting by absentee ballot makes it easier for elections to be stolen, I would like to see you present one single piece of evidence. The opposite seems to be the case, or so it has been at least since the 2000 election - no butterfly absentee ballots.

As for the electors thing, you seem to just not be getting the distinction, and I'm going to drop it here.

[TechBear_Seattle]

22. Let me give you a "for example"

Oregon has eliminated ALL precinct voting: you either vote by mail, or you do not vote at all. Washington is doing the same thing, with King County (the most populous in the state and home of Seattle) being the only one that has polling places this year and everyone else is voting by mail. This means that voters must rely on the US Postal Service both to get a ballot and to submit their ballot, with absolutely no chain of accountability in either direction and countless anonymous people having unsecured access to what are very clearly marked as ballots. If you want to take this kind of risk, that is fine. I think the risk is far too high and I am not being given a choice. Yes, that annoys me, and I think it is foolish in the extreme the way so many people have been promoting absentee ballots and mail-in elections as a "convenience" and a "time saver." Making it so much easier for vote tampering to occur with no possible hope for catching fraud is bad, and the way it is being enthusiastically pushed is disturbing in the extreme.

Which has nothing at all to do with my original question on constitutionality. :hi:

[harmonicon]

23. but that's not evidence that any fewer votes are counted

Every absentee ballot that I've filled out has had things like check boxes next to a candidate's name - no way to misread it. I would much rather vote by absentee ballot and know that my vote is clearly marked and will be read by a human being than vote with a machine or on some form that will be read by a machine at the polling place. There is certainly a recent history of counting ballots that way going awry. That's why votes are ultimately counted by hand when machine counting fails. I'd rather just cut out the middle man and vote by mail to begin with. I also trust the post office more than I trust an electronic counting machine.

[suston96]

20. Good point. But I believe those "early" votes cannot be counted until Nov. 4......nt

[SoCalDem]

24. They just don't COUNT the votes until that same day, BUT

databases are so sophisticated these days, that officials "know" which candidate is favored by the early voting..

This is what scares me.. Millions of people SO eager to vote, get out there and vote early, and what really happens to those votes??

If those votes are tallied separately from and just before the rest, so we KNOW the total matched up, I have no problem, but if they are just "trust-us-we're-gonna-include-them counted with all the rest.. well I do have a problem with that..

[apnu]

18. I live in Chicago and will vote on Nov. 4

I like going to the polls and pulling the lever. Er, well, that was the case in NY with those old, giant, things we used. Maybe I should say: I like going to the polls and coloring, cuz that's what happens here. You get a sharpie and a large scan-tron sheet.

Well, anyway, I have zero fear of being messed with at my polling place, it is Chicago after all, and it is so pro-Obama its like McCain isn't even running here.

[ramapo]

21. Doesn't seem prudent

Perhaps allow voting 5-10 days before election day but 5 weeks? What is the rational for that? Events might change the political landscape. I think you can send in a "newer" vote, overriding the first one, in some jurisdictions.

[SoCalDem]

25. Here in CA in the primary OVER half of the dems had voted before the primary

most for HRC, before many of them even knew anything about Obama..and many for Edwards, who had dropped out before the primary happened..

Many many many people interviewed said they wished they had waited..and would have voted Obama if they had not voted so early..

We only voted early ONE TIME..when we voted against Ahhhhhnold's take-over.. We were in Tahiti on election day, so we voted before we left :)..Bastard won anyway:(