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California allows, even encourages, permanent absentee voting, where your ballot may arrive two or three weeks before election day, and just needs to be mailed back by election day. A recent newspaper report had 40% of the ballots in 2004 being cast absentee. Some electorates may also allow advance direct voting, as reported by Mr. Hari. So here also it is "election season" and not just "election day".

Vermont has the same and so do most states. I wish that I could make money as easily as posting non-news as news. Maybe the 成人论坛 should look for a more diligent correspondent!

This strikes me as more than a little shady. In a country whose citizens have trouble thinking for themselves, early poll numbers from Texas could drastically affect the outcomes in other states. By biasing results, it serves paradoxically to decrease the effectiveness of the democratic process, even though it will probably result in a higher voter turn-out

What concerns me is who is watching the votes that have been cast during this long period? When voting takes place on 1 day, there are many observers looking over everything. When votes have been cast 2 weeks early, who is monitoring those votes/boxes/computer data etc..

I voted early yesterday (Monday) in a north Dallas area. Had just one fellow in front of me so it went pretty fast. And it was a little funny watching the purple-haired old ladies (poll workers) trying to figure out all the new fangled electronic scanners and computers and such. Early voting is a great thing and sure beats the heck out of standing in line for hours!

So if a candidate has to peak and stay peaked, and if it takes money to maintain that visibility, does it inherently hurt third party chances? Will Strayhorn or Kinky (Independents here in Texas) peak too late, or too early, afraid to burn through their cash reserves, or else doing exactly that? Early voting is certainly convenient, but is it good for democracy? I would think so, on balance, but has it been looked into at all?

In Oregon, voting is conducted entirely through the mail, with ballots going out Oct 20th this year, and most people recieving them on the 21st. I have already voted, as have most people I know. It is said that there are many people who wait until the last day or two to vote, and they are largely supposed to be the undecided voters. So even though many, or possibly even most, people will have voted well before election day, the campaigning will continue until the last day to capture the few voters who could swing the vote in either direction. This makes me feel odd, knowing that things could change that might affect voters in the week or two before the general election, but I think it is better to vote early than to wait until the last minute.

I have often wondered why Hawaii does not vote a day early, especially in years that include presidential elections, as it must be odd to still have your polls open while the networks are tallying up the winner.

Early voting is yet another example of how the US system is open to fraud. This, along with computer voting, needs to be examined in EVERY state by non-US, independent observers. It is a disgrace.

I, too, voted early yesterday in North Dallas during my lunch break. I think early voting is great. As for an increased level of fraud, well, it's all computerized, so it could be hacked any time. The polls are watched by volunteers the entire time - early voting and on general election day, so that's no different, and the early voting results aren't counted until after the polls close on election day. It's a matter of convenience. We have such low turnout in the U.S., we need to make it as convenient as possible. We can't afford to turn off more voters, less than 30% of the voting age population decides the elections already.

I voted early here in North Central Texas and I think its great. It allows the freedom to vote on your own timeline; thus, you don't have an excuse for not voting and you miss the long lines. Fraud? Why would early voting be anymore prone to fraud than election day? There were more "observers" (county clerks) than voters when I was there.

I don't understand how you haven't heard about early voting. It's in newspapers, and has been in place for a while. Not voted recently?

I voted early today in Downtown Dallas. I would have waited until Election Day if it had been a Presidential election year, but since I'd pretty much made up my mind, I went ahead and voted early. I used to live in Oregon (born there but have Texas ancestors) and I don't really miss vote by mail. I so do like going to a polling place. Participatory democracy just seems more real when you have to actively pariticpate in it.

What I do wish Texas had was paper ballots. The lack of a paper trail worries me just as much as a post office machine eating my ballot, which is why in Oregon I always hand delivered my ballot to one of the county drop off locations. The only time I ever mailed it - I was out of state on the East Coast - I sent it overnight express with a tracking number.

Those who can vote but don't yield their right to complain.

This is a great idea as one of the most problematic aspects of the last presidential election was the long lines at polling stations, especially in ethnic areas (ie: urban Ohio). Some activists even claimed that the lack of adequate polling stations was an attempt by republican states to disnfranchise poor voters. Early voting helps to alleviate these problem. As for the concern that the early poll numbers would sway the electorate, that would be a problem, if the numbers were released . However since the voting is so sporadic and lengthy exit polling isn't practical and the ballots themselves are not counted until the polls close.

As Plunkett of Tammany Hall said, vote early, vote often.

Elections over several days are not unknown in the UK - for instnace the ballots were open in the Khaki election of 1900 from 25 September to 24 October.

I imagine that election campaigning in late Victorian Britain was rather more genteel than what we've been hearing about in the United States of America!

To Mike, who fears early voting is "shady" - don't worry overmuch, as results are released only after all voting is finished. They aren't trickled out daily or anything.

It really is brilliant, though - they have polling stations all sorts of places. I voted Monday while grocery shopping. Some are even mobile, so that the polls can come to you.

Early voting and Absentee voting are both great ideas to help people make sure their voices are heard. Election Day is not a national holiday in the US, and companies aren't required to grant workers leave to vote. If you're a policeman, a doctor, or a soldier on duty Election Day, you might not be able to make it to the polls, either. So anything that helps people get to the polls is a good idea.

In Minnesota, we don't have early voting. We do have very liberal voting laws, though. For example, if you have two places of residency in the state, you can choose whichever one to vote at, and you can register at the voting booth. This makes Minnesota's elections very unpredictable. In 2004, we had the highest voter turnout rate at 76% overall and 45% for younger voters aged 18-24, also the highest in the nation.

I have no doubt that my vote will be accurately counted as we take our right to vote very seriously in this state.

To James, employers in Texas are required to allow employees time to vote. If you want to identify America's procrastinors and slackers, watch the people going into a polling place on election day. Everyone else votes early. Texas law requires that I allow employees time to vote on election day even though early voting can be done weeks before election day.

This is the Texas law pertaining to allowing employees time off to vote: 搂 276.004. UNLAWFULLY PROHIBITING EMPLOYEE FROM VOTING. (a) A person commits an offense if, with respect to another person over whom the person has authority in the scope of employment, the person knowingly: (1) refuses to permit the other person to be absent from work on election day for the purpose of attending the polls to vote; or (2) subjects or threatens to subject the other person to a penalty for attending the polls on election day to vote.

Early/absentee voting is wonderful for college students like me since I'm not able to get to my home precinct on voting day. There definitely is room for fraud, but I would rather be able to vote for my home candidates.

Like we say in Chicago, "Vote early, vote often."