<p>Definitely seems as though early voting is ‘all the rage’ now. Even the President is doing it this year.</p>
<p>H and I just got done early voting today. No one ahead of us, but when we left there 6 people waiting. Early voting here requires no special excuse, and goes from October 22nd through November 3rd.</p>
<p>After trying twice but being scared away by long lines I voted on Wednesday, waiting about 45 minutes. Here in NC I just tell them my name and address and they look me up and I vote. I only learned accidentally that they had my incorrect birth date, but was able to change it. (I tried to look myself up online using name and birth date, and I was coming up blank) Early voting is very popular here in NC. They have no early voting in NJ.</p>
<p>Vote early! Vote often!</p>
<p>You actually can vote early in NJ. In the past few years you can register to vote by mail on a permanent basis with no reason. I scheduled a dinner in NYC that night, so I filed for my ballot a few weeks ago and it came in the mail a few days ago. I plan to open it up and vote at home tonight.</p>
<p>I will be early voting for sure, probably tomorrow. There is a location in every ward, so it’s quite convenient.</p>
<p>My husband will be voting early because he has his 3 month check up appointments at M D Anderson on election day (and the day before and after). I’m not sure if he could vote early if he did not have a good reason. (I’m not a citizen so can’t vote).</p>
<p>About the phone calls, we don’t get many thank goodness - probably because we’re not anywhere near being a swing state. But weirdly we got a robocall for a Senate race from an adjacent State. Can’t imagine why they would call States where people can’t vote for them, but I about had a stroke when I saw Akin on my caller I.D.</p>
<p>Oh, I had absolutely no idea there were States where you have to vote by mail.</p>
<p>I also voted early, as I work 14 hours days on Tuesdays. Wouldn’t Saturdays be a much better day to hold election day all around??</p>
<p>I already voted - by mail. I don’t know why anyone would prefer to go to a voting place rather than do it by mail. Voting by mail is convenient and easy and quicker. As I’m going through the propositions especially, I can read the long version of the details behind the props to decide if I want to vote yes or no. It seems silly to do that, fill out a ‘practice ballot’ and then take that to a voting place and enter it all over again.</p>
<p>One thing I DON’T do is pay any attention to the political ads for the props, which are almost always very biased, incomplete, and misleading (both sides of it) and I’ll definitely not vote for a prop or a candidate because I happened to see a stupid sign with their name or ‘vote no on…’ or ‘vote yes on …’ on it stuck in the ground polluting the environment (if anything that would make me more inclined to NOT vote for that person but usually they all do it). I detest political signs stuck in the ground scattered all over the place and I’m not thrilled with anyone who’d place them there either. Whoops - headed off into a rant.</p>
<p>I voted Monday. Any registered Chicago voter (with a government issued photo ID can vote in any Chicago Early Voting site. There is one in each ward and one downtown across from Daley Center. You don’t need a photo ID on Election Day, but at Early Voting, you do.</p>
<p>I just got back from voting in NC. There was a line, but only about 20 minutes.</p>
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<p>This is exactly why I like being able to vote by mail, even though I walk past my poll location on my way to work. During the primaries we had a number of other positions to vote for, and I was truly stunned how many people running for office didn’t even submit a one paragraph blurb outlining their platform.</p>
<p>This will be S2’s first presidential vote, and S1 asked if he could be the one to take him. As someone else mentioned, the elderly poll officers always make a fuss over that sort of thing and since S1 is a very politically minded person, he wanted to share the experience with his brother. Which I think is cool. My boss already has told people to make allowances for lines but that he would understand if we got stuck longer than our brief lunch period, to vote.</p>
<p>I have only voted on election day once and that was years ago. Not memorable at all since I had to stand in line and it was a pain getting away from the job. I really like early voting as it is very convenient. I like the option we have here also where you can vote straight ticket.</p>
<p>I helped my son fill out his absentee ballot tonight by talking with him on the phone. Kind of anticlimactic that his first election is via mail instead of a voting booth, but we’re in PA and we want that vote here, so an absentee ballot was the way to go. He said he could have checked off an option to vote “straight ticket” but there was no explanation of what that was. He also said that there was no deadline for mailing listed!</p>
<p>I can’t say that I see any good reason for early voting. It’s not available in my state, but the polls are open early and late and absentee ballots are easily available for those who need them. Why not let the campaigns play out in their entirety so we can all be as educated as possible about our options? Convenience is a pretty weak reason to mess with something as critical as the electoral process. There were some very controversial remarks from a Senatorial candidate just yesterday–someone who voted for or against him last week may be regretting that “convenient” decision. And it’s really ludicrous for some states to allow voting as early as a month ahead.Where does the line get drawn? Maybe everyone should be allowed to vote by email as soon as the conventions or primaries have picked their candidates–just hit a button on your iPad before you even get up from the couch and the election is over for you!</p>
<p>^^ Realistically looking at it, the ‘education’ about the candidates doesn’t stop on election day either so even if one waits to vote on the particular day they could still be surprised by revelations a week later, a month later, or a year later. I don’t think there’s generally a significant amount to be learned by waiting an extra week or two to vote. Most people will vote their party line anyway. </p>
<p>The propositions can be decided upon well in advance of the official voting day since for those all one needs to do is read the fine print of the proposition.</p>
<p>There’s never been a time when I would have changed my mind between when I sent in my mail ballot a couple of weeks earlier and election day. I think there can be more ‘remorse’ well after election day as one sees what the candidate is ‘really’ like in action or in inaction.</p>
<p>If permitting voting by mail or other means gets more people to vote, it seems like it’s a good thing. It also eliminates some of the problems or at least accusations that have been made in the past about some people who have difficulty getting to voting locations - even a disabled home bound person can vote by mail, someone in a rough neighborhood can vote safely by mail. There’s really no advantage to going to a voting location versus mailing but definite advantages to the converse.</p>
<p>I plan to vote tomorrow morning. I hope the line is not too long, but we’ll see. In the Federal election we are not a close state, but on the State and Local levels the races are close. I want to avoid what will surely be long lines on election day.</p>
<p>Plan to try to vote today…</p>
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<p>Convenience is the very best reason for early voting. It is because voting is so critical that it should be as convenient as possible. No one should miss voting because they were sick one day or couldn’t get off work or their baby sitter didn’t show up. It is up to the voters to decide when they have enough information to vote. Absentee voting doesn’t work for everyone because it is not made that convenient by some states. In my state, for example, you have to plan ahead far enough to apply for the ballot in the mail or pick one up. Since there is only one location per county, that can be quite inconvenient.</p>
<p>Agree, cartera. Another reason is to get your vote in before your employer starts threatening that you will lose your job if you don’t vote a certain way. Or to avoid the misinformation that is intentionally being spread about voting rules, regulations, and locations. I live in a swing state and these things are happening more and more. It makes me sick.</p>