Over the past few decades voting laws have become progressively looser. In the early '70s, nearly all voting was done on Election Day, with only 3-4% done via absentee ballot. That number rose slowly for the next 20 years and then skyrocketed beginning in the early '90s:
By 2016 nearly 40% of the electorate voted early. About half of this was accounted for by mail ballots and the other half by early voting during extended hours at polling places. Early in-person voting increased from zero in 1992 to about 19% of all ballots in 2016.
I haven't voted at my specific polling location on election day since 2000. Of course I have worked as an election worker a few times since then so I needed to vote early, but every election I find wherever the earliest voting location is and try to go ASAP.
They should just open voting during the 2 weeks before and during election day and call it a day...err, 2 weeks. If you trust mail-in ballots and your state isn't doing everything in its power to nullify them or whatever, go for it. I'll keep voting in person as early as possible.
It's pretty clear that Republicans have evolved to the "who cares who votes, let's be the ones to count them" phase, so vote early and in person if you can. Republicans plan on not counting as many votes as possible so that they can murder us. No, that's not hyperbole.
Well this is little short of shocking! And just think, this is only the people who admit it! How many others cover up their crimes?
It's time to get a little Law And Order™ back into voting! I'm very glad that today's RepubliQan Party is ON IT! With a little bit of work, we'll get things back to where they ought to be, where the Right Sort of People are voting and all those other types know their place!
Texas attorney general admits Trump would have lost the state in 2020 if he hadn't blocked mail-in voting,
https://www.rawstory.com/ken-paxton-texas-voter-suppression/
He's all but outright admitting his exclusively partisan purpose, where does this cross the line into illegality?
Jorge Esprescott, given his father's background handling the somewhat smoother fix at Florida 2000, has just found an opening to attack AG Paxton.
The Bushes can do election rigging much less hamhandedly.
What Paxton is implying is that the Democratic control counties were acting to illegally influence the election by putting thumbs on the scales of both turnout and the counting process.
Imagine thinking higher turnout is "putting thumbs on the scale". Spoken like someone who longs for the old days of Jim Crow.
It is if only certain areas are using the measures, which is why election laws must be uniform across a state.
I've only voted in person on election day about three times since 1980 and I simply hated it each time.
I can't imagine there are many people who actually like it.
CLD-
The ONLY time(s) if have voted by mail was during my military service. After that, I took the civic duty to heart and yes, stood in line for the most part to vote. I try to go early when available, ad there's usually little to no wait.
This year I had a mil in ballot but chose NOT to use it for the simple fact that I knew somewhere along the line it would be challenged if the vote was close. It wasn't - Trump won NC by over 4%.
The pandemic lead to a lot of states relaxing the mail in ballot rules and I appreciate the effort for that, but we made it too easy, in a sense. I would love to see 2 weeks of voting "time". WITH WEEKENDS included. That to me should be enough time to vote.
I LOVE mail in voting and have no problem with it. If we are gonna do that - IN NORMAL TIMES - then the ID requirements should be a little more strict for that. I would propose a vehicle registration, drivers license ID number (not necessarily a picture) to associate that mailed in ballot to someone. I DO NOT believe we should have to produce a picture ID to vote in person.
I can still open a bank account w/o a picture ID (I have done this within the last year BTW). I did it right in front of my republican daughter. She had no idea what I was doing until we got in the car - she said Dad you had your license why did you not give it to the girl? I said darling that just proved to YOU how false the republican narrative has become and I just proved it to you. You CAN open a bank account w/o a picture ID. She was stunned at how much she believed the GOP line. She is now registered as non-affiliated, like me. She still leans republican I'm sure - but the lean is less noticeable, based on her tepid support for them.
It's great that you're setting a good example for her.
Buy her a subscription to Mother Jones!
I'm wondering if a preference for in-person voting may have to do with living in states with warmer weather. In Iowa November 2nd could easily be near freezing.
I didn't have any choice - in Virginia you weren't allowed to request a mail in ballot without qualifying by being elderly, out of state and more lately you could do it if your daily commute took you out of state. It wasn't until last year that I could have voted by mail and I did. Finally in 2020 a majority of modern day (not Dixiecrat) Democrats were seated in both houses and we have a Democratic governor, they voted for historic reforms that permanently reform our formerly restrictive voting rules.
Last week I voted early for the first time ever in the Democratic Primary for Governor, Lt. Gov and Attorney General.
Limiting the vote is limiting Liberty™.
I should get that under copywrite.
Having a vote on a specific day is not limiting it.
Yes it is. Let's say your boss won't give you the day off to go vote...
Uh, yes it is.
Sweet Ceiling Cat, is English your second language?
Let me Add something that seems to be missing from ALL the conversations concerning voting...
Voting, at least in CA, is hard if done responsibly. Hard, as in difficult!
There are the Propositions, there are Bond Issues, there are a dozen important Judges to vote for....Lacy for DA or Garcion? Etc, etc...and on and on.
The past few cycles I have been voting by mail and the relief of being able to sit at my desk and seriously ponder all these choices....with Google if necessary, has made voting much more of a serious pleasure.
Mail In voting should be available to Everyone. (seriously)
Best Wishes, Traveller
Bond always got propositioned. Girls had a thing for the accent....../s
Oregon has been all mail in for the last 8 election cycles?
And when you think about Wyoming - a red state with a population density of 6 people per square mile - FORCING them to travel to the polls might discourage a republican or two
So hard you didn't get the guy who won the DA race's name right.
Pretty sure most voters don't do all that much pondering. Back when we had real elections, I just sat at home with my sample ballot, marked my choices, and brought that marked up sample into the voting booth with me.
Back in 1950?
Back in 2012.
And meanwhile, the percentage of people who vote keeps declining? It would be a good idea to show a comparison. While you're at it, how about the percentage of potential voters who are actually registered?
Many years back, New Mexico opened up four weeks of early voting, the last two "early in person" at a large number of "vote centers", which the Bernalillo County Clerk made sure were distributed across the county, in places where people lived and worked, and accessible by public transportation lines. Anybody in the county can vote at any of the vote centers.
Not every county does this, even though they can. You can guess the political affiliation of those who don't.
I forgot to add that NM moved to all paper ballots under Big Bill Richardson, and that the election statute has a provision where the tabulating machines will be audited, their counts compared to a hand count, after every election. The number of machines selected for audit have been determined by statistical analysis. (Yes, we have scientists and mathematicians in New Mexico.)
And the Republican party has won the presidential popular vote only once since 1990 (George W. Bush in 2004). No wonder they hate making voting easier.
... and love the electoral college. Theyve even successfully pushed schemes to help "protect" the EC and make it "more democratic" by allocating a state's EV by its (heavily gerrymandered) Congressional districts.
Masters of PR, one must admit.
In California about a 1/3 of the voters voted for Trump, so we can assume a third more or less vote GOP for Congress. Yet the GOP only has 1/5 of California's congressional seats.
So who is gerrymandering?
Republicans. California has an independent districting process.
Yeah, like it's judiciary is 'independent too. Just look at the 49th, spread over two counties and with Camp Pendleton in the middle so they aren't even adjacent areas. Including Oceanside with South OC dilutes the white vote, intentionally.
Well, if his pants are on backwards,
https://twitter.com/bfriedmandc/status/1401406435121106947
you have to ask how this could have been managed, and why?
If they're some sort of pull-up pants you'd have to ask why they're bunching on the upper thighs.
And then there's the apparent mass of some kind of padding inside, which recalls the story that he wears Depends due to some kind of incontinence, and I think that's the answer.
He had some kind of accident just before he was to go on stage badly staining the front and the only solution was to turn the pants around.
Over the past few decades voting laws have become progressively looser.
That's a weird way to put it, no? In 99 cases out of 100, people who say "progressively looser" imply it is a bad thing. Back in the halcyon days of yore before the world went degenerate.... That sort of thing.
If you frame changes in voting laws as a bad thing, then maybe you think the current red state craze to make voting laws great again are just an effort to restore "the norm" of a better time.
A better word: "modernized."
Would anyone say "Over the past few decades banking has become progressively looser"?
No. We'd say "banking has modernized." We tend to believe modern conveniences like EFT and ATMs are positive developments, so we don't have to wait 30 minutes of every Friday lunch hour at the bank to deposit our paycheck and get cash for the weekend.
Would anyone say "Over the past few decades photography has become progressively looser"?
No. We'd say "photography has modernized." We tend to believe modern conveniences like smartphones and texting are positive developments, so we don't have to wait several weeks to share pictures of the kids with Grandma.
Would anyone say "Over the past few decades voting laws have become progressively looser" without meaning to imply that early voting, voting-from-home, and other steps to make it easier for voters to vote might be a problem?
No. That's why anyone who'd like to leave their biases behind would say "voting laws have been modernized."
Joseph
That is by far the best example I have seen of how democrats failed in their attempts to control the narrative over voting laws. They are allowing the republicans to frame it as a bad thing.
Now for some concrete suggestions
All people who are on Soc Sec, Medicare, VA benefits (including pensions) should be able to get a mail in ballot. Period. Addresses are known and in many cases email addresses are also known. Direct deposits are made to KNOWN BANKS. There's plenty of verification built into retiree benefits.
For ANYONE who is disabled but under the age of 62. Have the county officials seek out and photograph those residents and provide a FREE government ID. Add THEM to the mail in ballot system.
For all others if you would prefer vote by mail you must go to the local board of elections and provide updated info on job, address and current utility bills. Then you get your picture taken AT YOUR COST. I would say a minimum charge of $8 or so per ID. They can then REQUEST a mail in ballot if they so choose. Otherwise it's vote in person for you. This way the BoE gets current info, they get an ID, and they get a trackable voter. This way you pay for the convenience of VBM, over several election cycles saving you at a minimum of $8 in gas and time over several elections OR you choose to do it in person
Convenient for everyone and satisfies an awful lot of republican angst about all this perceived voter fraud
There should be an appointed election day (or maybe two, including a Sunday, so people with work conflicts can vote easily). Other than that 'early voting', universal mail in balloting, etc makes a mockery of the election process.
Not coherent enough to even be wrong.
Once again a conservative harkens back to some mythical earlier era where all was good and right with the world. Or should I say good and white?
What is the change in people working longer/less regular hours?
I always wondered how people voted back in the olden days when they had to commute on busses and trollies.
Only the right people voted back then, if you lived in DC, no problemo, you didn't have the right to vote for anything, not even Mayor.