Early Voting

EARLY VOTING REFERS to casting a ballot prior to Election Day. It is possible for people to vote early via mail, such as by absentee ballot, however, more often, early voting refers to voters casting their ballots early at designated polling stations. For example, often people can cast early ballots at their Supervisor of Elections office, and other nontraditional, satellite voting sites such as community centers. The period of time during which early voting takes place can vary widely from state to state, ranging anywhere from four to 50 days prior to the day of an election. Polling places are often open after business hours and on weekends, allowing people a wider range of time within which to vote. The main distinction between absentee voting and early voting is that often states place restrictions on who is allowed to vote absentee, whereas early voting is really “no-excuse” absentee voting. In other words, people do not have to provide an acceptable excuse to cast an early ballot.

Texas was the first state to institute early voting in 1991, and now many states have provisions allowing for early voting. As of March 2007, all states allow absentee voting, while 29 states allow “no-excuse” absentee voting. Of those states, 15 allow voters to cast their ballots early. For example, the state of Florida instituted early voting in 2004 as part of post-2000 election reform, and over one million voters took advantage of it during the 2004 presidential election. Even though voters take advantage of the opportunity to vote early, overall levels of turnout have not necessarily increased. In 2004, turnout in the presidential election was up considerably from 2000; 105,586,274 in 2000: (51.3 percent) versus 122,294,978 (55.3 percent). Turnout had been averaging about 37 percent in off-year congressional elections for about the previous two decades, but in 2006 turnout was 85,675,359, or 41.3 percent.

Originally, early voting was instituted as an alternative voting method to help increase voter turnout by providing people with more flexibility and convenience. Voting is not confined to certain hours on one day, but instead voters get a longer range of hours and days within which to vote, therefore providing voters with more potential to participate. However, scholars have found not only that alternative voting methods such as early voting have not necessarily resulted in increased voter turnout, but, in some cases, may have actually decreased turnout. They believed that the people participating in early voting would have turned out to vote on Election Day anyway. This is evidenced by the fact that voter turnout has remained fairly constant during the last 30 years, even with alternative voting methods. Additionally, it is thought that certain types of voters [Page 190]are more likely to take advantage of early voting than others. For example, older voters, voters with strong partisan attachments, and those with higher interests in politics are more likely to vote early. Considering that these voters are already more likely to vote, early voting may not encourage additional members of the electorate to vote. Therefore, it does little in terms of increasing turnout.

...