Reply to What was the rationale in Florida and Ohio for reducing the number of early voting days?

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[quote=Freeman][quote=Anonymous]Why on earth do we even need early voting?

People should vote on election day, not election month.

If you can't make it that day, send in an absentee ballot.

If it is important enough, you will find a way to vote.[/quote]

For most heavily-populated areas, it is simply about the number of people voting. When everyone was voting on the same day, it meant larger crowds, long waits, etc. It also disproportionately affected poorer people, since they often literally could not afford to miss work to go vote.(What's more important, voting or paying the rent?) It also benefits senior citizens(Less time standing in line, more assistance available, easier to arrange transportation from nursing homes and assisted living facilities, etc.) as well as other groups that work to provide transportation to voters. Absentee ballots are the biggest source of voter fraud, so I don't think expanding their use is a good idea. In fact, I think that with the increase in early voting opportunities, absentee ballots should be much more restricted than they currently are. I don't see any logical justification for only allowing voting on one arbitrary day. There are multiple benefits to allowing early voting, which I think more than outweigh the costs.

As for the rationale for reducing them, the most frequent one I've seen is to give time for local election boards to prepare for the election. However, I think these types of decisions had been made at the local levels for years, allowing each election board to decide when they would be open for early voting, and it was only recently that the states decided to impose rules on when they could and could be open. I haven't seen any good justification as to why some states felt the need to take control of what had been decided locally.(Which makes sense, given the different situations local boards will face)[/quote]

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