In some long forgotten thread about voting, I advocated for early voting for a variety of reasons. I am very glad to see that it has been more widely adopted, and I hope it will continue to expand in the future.
However, I see opportunities that are being missed.
What I would like to see, for the two weeks leading up to election day, is counting and reporting of votes totals as they come in. I believe this would serve to generate greater interest in participating, and increase voter turnout. This would allow candidates to adjust and target their efforts in the final days leading up to the official “election day”. By having real-time feedback candidates would better know what’s working and what isn’t. In our current system, the only actual feedback (not pollsters) comes with the election outcome.
This would also give the media the opportunity to create breathless reporting for an extended period of time. People would be glued to their TV/Twitter/Reddit/etc. for weeks. Nothing would get accomplished! (OK, maybe that’s not a good thing, but that is what would likely happen).
Would this be something you would like to see?
Do you think this might be an eventuality with the expansion in early voting?
Or is this something that should NEVER EVER HAPPEN!