Tag Archives: Early Voting

Voting and Vote Counting 101

By tmess2 | Published October 20, 2024

Once again, we are facing the possibility that early election returns on November 5 will be very misleading.  In large part, this is due to the efforts of one candidate (he who shall not be named) to demonize one form of voting which means that there will likely be significant partisan differences based on the mechanism showing.  This problem is made worse by certain states which would rather make voting difficult in the name of preventing the tiny amount of fraud that exists rather than actually preventing fraud.

There are basically four types of voting in the U.S.:  1) Absentee/Mail-in voting; 2) Early (in-person) voting; 3) In-person (election day) voting; and 4) provisional voting.  Each state has slightly different rules for these types of voting.  This difference is most pronounced for absentee and early voting.  For early voting, the difference mostly comes down to the period for early voting (when it starts and when it ends) and the days/hours when early voting locations are open.

For absentee voting, there are two big areas of difference.  First, states differ on whether a reason is required for an absentee ballot and what reasons are accepted.  While almost every state now allows early voting, many states still require an excuse before a person can cast an absentee ballot.  Second, there is a wide variety of rules governing the deadline for casting an absentee ballot.  The big difference is whether the ballot must be received by election day or merely postmarked by election day.  However, six states (Alabama, Connecticut, Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and West Virginia) require any absentee ballot dropped off by the voter to be dropped off by the day before the election, and two states (Louisiana and New Hampshire) require any ballot mailed to be received by the day before election day, and three states (North Dakota, Ohio, and Utah) require that mail-in ballots be post-marked by the day before the election.       Overall, thirty-five states are “received by” states and fifteen states (and the District of Columbia) are “post-marked by” states (but each of these states have a different post-election deadline for the receipt of ballots).  Of the crucial states (at least at the presidential and Senate level), only Nevada, Ohio, and Texas are “postmarked by” states. Continue Reading...

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Reforming Elections

By tmess2 | Published November 3, 2020

While waiting for the polls to close, now is a good time to reflect on some good concepts that are examples of things that have gone right in some areas of the country this election and others are cures to what has gone wrong so far this year in election administration.  Of course, the big problem is that our decentralized system means that we have fifty-one different sets of state laws and over 3000 local election authorities who exercise the discretion granted by those laws in very different ways.

Good Concept Number 1 — Early voting periods.  This is not a new idea, but some states and localities are still resistant to the idea.  But with the overwhelming early vote this year, the news media is light on complaints about locations where there are exceedingly long wait times.

Good Concept Number 2 — At least one day during the early voting period when there is an early voting center open for the entire day (all twenty-four hours).  While most people work jobs where being open on the weekends or during normal business hours will make it easy to vote, there are some who have weird hours and weird shifts.  Having at least one day when you can vote at all hours (as was done in Harris County) will allow these people to vote in person. Continue Reading...

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Voter Registration and Early Voting

By tmess2 | Published October 2, 2016

Vote by JessIn the United States, unlike most major democracies, election law is primarily set by the state.  Additionally, elections are run by local officials — usually elected in partisan elections.  For those involved in elections (candidates, supporters, and voters),  there are two significant consequences to this aspect of American democracy.  First, every state has its own rules and timetables for registering to vote and for voting.  Second, even within those rules, local officials have a lot of discretion that can influence the results of elections.

To win, campaigns need to do two things.  First, they need to communicate a message that connects to potential voters.  Second, they need to get those potential voters to vote.  The messaging part is like the tip of the iceberg.  It occurs above the surface.  At this time of the cycle, advertisements are a rising tide.  Depending upon where you live and what races are competitive, political ads are slowly becoming more and more omnipresent (ultimately peaking in the week before the election when ads for consumer goods will all but disappear from the air).  But political ads are run out of the campaign headquarters and involve the local activist very little.  It is the part beneath the surface — the get out the vote campaign — that requires a good field operation and local effort.

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Absentee Ballots vs. No-Excuse Early Voting

By tmess2 | Published September 3, 2016

Vote by JessIn Missouri, we have an interesting case working it’s way through the system.  (The trial court issued its ruling yesterday; any appeal will have to be expedited.)  The basic facts of the case are:  1) about five hundred people cast absentee votes; 2) the incumbent state representative got just under 80% of the absentee vote (picking up a net of approximately three hundred votes); 3) the challenger got the most votes from votes cast on election day; and 4) the incumbent won by a total of ninety votes.  Given the small number of votes cast in primaries for state representative, the margin was significantly over the threshold for a recount, and the only option for the challenger was an election contest.  In this case, the election contest focused on the validity of absentee voting.  While there was some evidence of some improprieties by the incumbent in with some of the absentee votes, the evidence of such “fraud” impacted less than 20 ballots.  Instead, the case came down to whether the election authority properly followed the rules for absentee ballots., and the current ruling emphasizes the difference between a true early voting system and an absentee ballot.

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