…if the polls aren’t crowded, how are we supposed to use our voter-suppression tactic of making the lines long enough to get some of the “wrong sort” to give up and walk away?
I have a problem with this, as well. What if a candidate is popular and far ahead in the polls, and a lot of people go ahead and vote early for him, then something that would normally collapse a candidacy happens? I know there’s recalls and such, but I’m concerned that we could be saddled with a big mistake this way.
George Will can bite me. I could get up early on Election Day, drive to my polling place, wait in line, cast a ballot and bust my butt to get to work by 8:00. Or I could take a leisurely stroll at my convenience down to my local library during the early voting period and cast my ballot without a wait. That doesn’t make me lazy–it makes me someone doesn’t want to faff about on a weekday morning or evening.
That is so much BS…I can remember in California on voting day, seeing hugeass lines waiting to vote and people pulling up in cars, seeing the lines and then drive away without bothering to vote.
The well-meaning, but understaffed poll workers could not keep up and lines moved slower than at the DMV on Saturday.
I have been an Obama fan from day one, and also know the other candidates in local elections, and am ready to vote now. In Nevada, early voting begins October 18th and that is the day I will vote. By getting my ass in and out of there early, it will free up the lines on voting day for those who are waiting for, I donno exactly, but those who are waiting for some divine inspiration to tell them how to vote.
BTW, in the last General Election, over 50% of all Nevadans voted early!
Notice that he’s not complaining about the poor quality of voters who put people like Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond, or GWB into office.
What if that disasterous thing happens on Nov 5th? Should we push the election back a week to prevent that? Candidates could always screw the pooch after you vote regardless of when you vote. However I agree that there seems to be a problem if people are voting before all the debates are done.
In my county, we’re not *allowed *to vote except by mail. What would George Will suggest I do?
Leaving aside your transparent dig at Obama, do you think votes should be excluded on the basis of laziness, lack of motivation, or “quality” of the voter?
I don’t see why this is a problem. It’s not like people are required to watch the debates. My vote is my own and anyone that questions my motivation for picking my candidate can bite me. If I pick Obama because I think he’d beat McCain at a game of horse, then so be it.
It does to Orthodox Jews. Driving to a polling place and writing on a ballot are both work that is prohibited on Shabbat. You might be able to get around the writing problem with something like touch screens (or not- these rules are complicated). I don’t know if there are any Christian denominations with similar restrictions on Sundays.
There’s another problem with weekend voting. People register to vote where they live, and if people are going to travel, it’s more often on weekends than on weekdays.
Either that, or they can’t drive.
Well, yeah. we have processes in place to cover emergencies and the like. My point was that there could be scenarios where we’d have to use those processes because people voted before all of the information was in; not an emergency. I think it’s great that you can vote without schlepping to the polling place, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to vote so early. I think it would be OK if there was a mechanism in place for someone to rescind their vote prior to Election Day.
Note that my reason for concern has nothing to do with George Will’s, though…
I say he has it completely backward.
(At the risk of starting a debate, I direct my comments at Mr. Will) With all of the options for voting early, either through absentee ballots, voting by mail (Oregon), or early polling at selected locations, I see the schmos who only show up on polling day as slackers. They are more likely the ones who haven’t engaged in the process, learned the candidates platforms, or about the initiatives. I have many friends and family who describe themselves as ‘undecided’. A scary number of them claim they will probably decide when they are standing in the voting booth. Quality voters indeed.
As opposed to all those who researched deeply into the causes and motivations for the Iraq war and found clear and unimpeachable evidence of Iraq’s deep and crucial participation in the planning and implementation of the 9/11 attacks. Not to mention those same scholars who have delved into the intracacies of climate change and evolution and have concluded, based on their objective and learned evaluations of years of scientific research, that those who deem themselves to be “scientists” are in fact simply tools of the socialist left bent on undermining truth, justice, and the American Way. I’m certainly comforted by the high quality of their motivations and voting habits.
Quoth dalej42:
Around here, the state Secretary of State sends out a pamphlet in the mail to all registered voters with the full text of every ballot initiative, a pro and anti statement, and rebuttals. The last page is a checklist for “yes” or “no” on all of the initiatives, and you’re encouraged to tear it out and take it with you when you vote. Mine arrived a couple of days ago.
A truly lazy person isn’t a voter. Anyone who takes the time to 1) request an absentee ballot, 2) fill the thing out, 3) put in an envelope, 4) address the envelope to the appropriate facility, 4) affix a stamp to it, and 5) drop it in the mail is not being lazy.
I’m going to be voting by absentee this year. George Will can bite me.
Oregon has had only vote by mail for a few years. I’d be interested to know if there’s been a change in election trends. In any event, people who aren’t going to vote don’t vote. Even in Oregon, a huge number of registered voters who said they were going to vote didn’t last time around. IIRC, the majority were young liberals.
[Homer Simpson]Oh man, they already voted! And we lost! Oh man, I can’t believe we spaced on the date![/HS]
Poor George Will, having to vote in the same Republic as the unwashed masses. What he really means is that people who work hard and would prefer to send it in the week before while leisurely filling the ballot in on a weekend, because they are wage slaves, would be too tired to contemplate waiting at the polling place and missing work or family instead. He doesn’t want the non-rich voting. Nothing new for George, who has never done a real day’s work in his entire life.
I love the concept of voting by mail, even though I have the leisure to go to a voting place, I prefer to send in my ballot from home. I love voting by mail because it extends the vote to so many people that would be too busy to otherwise make time to vote. In short, precisely for the reasons Will despises. I think people should have the freedom to make their own economic decisions and not have some nanny George make them for people. I feel the same way about political decisions.
Of course the unwashed will vote for the candidates that Will would eschew. But Will, having lived a life of privilege in the beltway, hasn’t the slightest clue what the lives of 95 percent of Americans are about.
I think it is an issue that the polls are NOT open for a long time - they close at 7PM, I think. This can make it tough to get back home from work, look after young kids and still find time to get out to vote. In comparison, voting ends at 9PM in the UK, which makes things much easier.
Given that voting can take a long time with so many things on the ballot, it is also not necessarily easy to vote before work - there can be lines that make it a long process.
A separate issue is that as the US has several time zones, exit poll results from the east coast are available hours before the polls close in California and Hawaii and possibly influence whether people think it worth voting. This was an issue in 2000 when exit polls were available for most of Florida before the western panhandle polls had closed. I like the idea of having one 24 hour period when polls are open the whole country. They open and close simultaneously everywhere.
Ironically, shortly after reading Mr. Will’s column, I heard this story, which reports that there is an increase in traffic accidents on election day. The assumption is that people are aggressively driving to try and make it to the polls in the brief time they have free. Naturally, then, finding alternatives to the old method of driving to the polls sounds like an intelligent strategy.
Hmm, Mr. Will. It sounds like you are a doofus, and that there’s evidence to back it up.
Nitpick: Polls close at 8 pm, in California at least. That’s a little better.
Ed