What is early voting?
How many states have early voting?
How many people use early voting?
What are the advantages of early voting?
What are some of the drawbacks of early voting?
What is the financial impact of early voting?
Is legislation relating to early voting currently being discussed?

What is early voting?

Many states now allow early voting, in which ballots are cast prior to Election Day. There are two kinds of early voting, each with its own benefits and challenges:

• In Person: a voter may choose to appear at a central polling location set up before Election Day and vote in a booth exactly as he or she would on the day of the election.
  
  
• Voting by Mail: a voter may request that a ballot be sent to him or her by mail regardless of whether he or she has an excuse for not voting in person, and may send the ballot back by mail.

How many states have early voting?

In 2004, 35 states allowed some form of early voting. Three more states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio, are considering implementing early voting programs. Twenty-five states have "no excuse" absentee ballots; twenty-five more and the District of Columbia allow absentee ballots with an excuse. Three of these states, Michigan, Connecticut, and Virginia, are considering implementing no excuse absentee ballots in time for the 2006 election. Oregon runs its elections entirely by mail, and Washington state now offers that option to its counties.

Early and Absentee Voting Laws
(Electionline.org)

How many people use early voting?

In the 2004 election, 20 percent of voters voted early, up 14 percent in 2000; early voting was especially popular in "battleground states" like Florida, Iowa, and New Mexico, in which early voters more than doubled between 2000 and 2004.

Sources/More Information:

Early Voting Reaches Record Levels in 2004, National Annenberg Election Survey Show
(Annenberg Election Survey) March 24, 2005

Long Lines on Election Day Enhance Appeal of Early Voting
Jim Drinkard (USA Today) November 18, 2005 - Data from NASS

What are the advantages of early voting?

The primary argument in favor of early voting is that it increases turnout by making it easier to vote. Research by Curtis Gans shows that in the 24 states with no excuse absentee voting, turnout increased in 2004 in the aggregate by 6.7 percent, whereas it increased 6.2 percent for the other states. In the 11 states that had early voting in both 2002 and 2004, turnout increased by an aggregate average of 7.2 percentage points as opposed to 6.2 in states without early voting.

In addition to the statistical evidence, early voting is advocated by voting rights groups whose primary concern is making voting as convenient as possible for voters, because it gives them significantly more time to complete their ballots or go to the polls.

Some election administrators also prefer early voting because it allows them more time to process ballots, relieves some of the strain on voting systems that occurs on Election Day, cuts down long lines, and reduces the number of poll workers needed.

Sources/More Information:

Turnout Exceeds Optimistic Predictions: More Than 122 Million Vote
Curtis Gans (Committee for the Study of the American Electorate) January 2005

What are some of the drawbacks of early voting?

The primary drawback of early voting is that mail-in ballots, which make up the large part of early voting, are much more susceptible to fraud than voting in which the voter must show up to the polls. Instances of fraud in which a ballot is stolen from a mailbox and filled out on behalf of a voter, or in which a voter is pressured to vote a certain way, are much more difficult to prosecute away from the polling place.

In addition, the evidence that shows that early voting increases turnout is countered by evidence from earlier elections—1996 and 1988—that shows larger decreases in turnout in states with early voting than in states without it. This research suggests that the voters who make use of early voting are already politicized enough that they would turn out even if early voting were not an option.

Depending on how early voters are allowed to cast their ballots, they could be casting their votes based on different information than the people who are voting on Election Day. Important events sometimes occur days before the election that can significantly influence how people vote. Candidates could even conceivably manipulate events at different times in order to influence groups voting at different times.

Some objections pertain specifically to mail-in ballots as well. In the 2004 election, thousands of ballots were lost in the mail in South Florida alone, a phenomenon which received less press but occurred throughout the country; there are also many reports of voters not receiving their ballots in time for the election, and of the board of elections failing to meet ballot requests.

Sources/More Information:

Making It Easier Doesn't Work: No Excuse Absentee and Early Voting; Hurt Voter Turnout; Create Other Problems
Curtis Gans (Committee for the Study of the American Electorate) September 2004

Early Voting, Unrestricted Absentee Voting, and Voting by Mail
Mark Hansen (National Commission on Federal Election Reform) July 2001

What is the financial impact of early voting?

It is unclear whether early voting saves money or is actually more expensive than regular voting. Advocates of early voting say that it saves money because it reduces the number of polling places and poll workers needed on Election Day; opponents reply that providing extra days of polling is more expensive than consolidating voting on one day, and that processing large numbers of mail-in ballots adds to the total cost. At the moment no conclusions have been made as to which side is right.

Is legislation relating to early voting currently being discussed?

Early voting is currently being discussed in a number of states.

Sources/More Information:

Absentee, Military and Early Voting Legislation
(Electionline.org)

Election Reform Legislation Database
(National Conference of State Legislatures)