Norway has early voting for a month for anyone. I think it was originally so votes from those unable to make it to their designated polling station on election day wouldn’t all be in transit on election day, but now it’s available to all.
+1
In some Australian electorates the proportion of eligible voters who take the pre-polling day option exceeds the turnout of US voters in the mid-terms.
IIRC or I’m mixing up provincial and federal or imagining it, but Canada not only allows early polls on specific days, but some elections you can vote any time after a certain point at the District Returning Office when it’s open, if you are on the list.
The thing I found fascinating about the US elections and mail-in/overseas ballots - an article mentioned that often they do not bother counting the ballots if the election result is already decided.
Canada has simple riding first past the post elections. A riding might have about 50,000 votes cast on a good day, but consider Eglington Mill Woods (Alberta) where Liberal Amarjeet Sohi beat Conservative Tim Uppal by 20423 votes to 20331; New Democrat Jasvir Deol was a distant third with 6330; the Communist candidate got only 69 votes, since this was the heart of the conservative west. I think in that sort of setting you want to count every vote, twice to be sure.
That used to be the case in some places, and might still be in states where you need a good reason to vote absentee, but in states where everyone can vote early they usually count all the votes no matter what.
So three states have vote-by-mail as a default? That was my understanding of what Oregon does.
I mean, I vote via mail here in Arkansas. My choices are “I am ill” or “I will be unavoidably absent.” And they’ve done nothing to check up on that.
I actually am a bit of a proselyte on the concept. It’s nice to be able to sit at the computer and look up the people you’ve not heard of (local office).
Arizona also has vote by mail. Any registered voter can request a mail in ballot and you automatically stay on the rolls for mail ballots for future elections without repeating your request. No reason needs to be given to vote by mail.
But Australia has mandatory voting, so the comparison is not too meaningful.
CA has a vote-by-mail option w/ no need to justify doing so. I’m not sure what the stats are for the state as a whole, but something like 1/3 of all votes in the area where I live are mail-in votes. Considering the number of complex initiatives we have on every ballot, it sure is a lot easier going over that stuff at home.
In fact, since Canada has no requirement that you have a good reason to vote early, it has become a convenience thing; and one of the statistics they mention on the news leading up to the election day is the level of early voter turnout as an indication of voter interest in the election outcome.
Could be, but also keep in mind that CA is solidly behind HRC, so people might not be quite so motivated as those in states where the race is tighter.
Oregon was the first state to go to all vote-by-mail. We’ve had it here since 1998, I think. And one or two special elections before that, where they didn’t have the money to run a regular election. It worked so well (increased turnout) that they adopted it for all elections.
This year, I’ve applied for a job as a temporary election worker. I did this before (in either 2000 or 2004, I forget which) where I received ballots dropped off on election day. The place I worked was the local library, which is one of the regular drop off locations. You can drop them off there at any time, but so many people do it on election day that they have people outside receiving them in a drive-thru-type situation. Don’t know what, if anything, I’ll be doing this year.
In the Cayman Islands eligible voters must register in advance to get their names on the roles. Citizens residing overseas for more than 2 of the preceding 4 years lose the right to vote unless certain exceptions apply (student, overseas medical treatment, or posted as government official overseas, work aboard an oceangoing ship).
Prisoners serving a sentence of more than 12 months, those adjudicated insane, and those with prior conviction of an election related law are not eligible to register as voters.
Those eligible to register must present a birth certificate and appropriate identification to register.
A voter must be registered on the voting roles at least 60 days prior to the election.
There is no in person early voting. Any eligible voter who will be off island may vote by postal ballot. Requests for a postal ballot must be made at least 12 days in advance of the election.
Those physically unable to vote in person (elderly, disabled) may request an in home visit from a representative from the Elections Office in order to vote. Such Mobile Voting may be carried out over a few days, culminating on Election Day.