Farewell, Election Day

What nonsense! My husband and I both voted by absentee ballot for two decades in California, not because we were slothful, but because we had jobs that often required us to be out-of-town, or in the office and not available to wait in long lines at polling places with no parking to pore over ridiculously complex ballots full of initiatives, etc. We now live in Washington State, where almost everyone votes absentee. No one here seems to have a problem. You can wait until Election Day to vote if you please. I was just wondering why other states hadn't instituted the process rather than having the election-day debacles we have seen in the past two federal elections. Long lines, frustrated voters, and many not able to wait to vote because they have (who would have thought?) jobs and family obligations. Then there's the serious issue of electronic voting machines with no accountability. Finally, what voter needs the last few days of overblown ads and overheated commentary to inform them about their candidates? The differences among our candidates are hardly that subtle. And fraud is far more controllable if you have absentee voting. For one thing, there's a paper trail. A well-run agency could easily confirm voter identity and authority, if it so chose. The problem is, it usually doesn't choose to do so. For two election cycles, the Republicans have benefitted dramatically from chaos on election day. Mr. Will is either seeking to rationalize the continuation of that pattern, or he's as dramatically out-of-touch with ordinary Americans as is his candidate.

What nonsense! My husband and I both voted by absentee ballot for two decades in California, not because we were slothful, but because we had jobs that often required us to be out-of-town, or in the office and not available to wait in long lines at polling places with no parking. We now live in Washington State, where almost everyone votes absentee. No one here seems to have a problem. You can wait until Election Day to vote if you please. I was just wondering why other states hadn't instituted the process rather than having the election-day debacles we have seen in the past two federal elections. Long lines, frustrated voters, and many not able to wait to vote because they have (who would have thought?) jobs and family obligations. Then there's the serious issue of electronic voting machines with no accountability. Finally, what voter needs the last few days of overblown ads and overheated commentary to inform them about their candidates? The differences among our candidates are hardly that subtle. And fraud is far more controllable if you have absentee voting. For one thing, there's a paper trail. A well-run agency could easily confirm voter identity and authority, if it so chose. The problem is, it usually doesn't choose to do so. For two election cycles, the Republicans have benefitted dramatically from chaos on election day. Mr. Will is either seeking to rationalize the continuation of that pattern, or he's as dramatically out-of-touch with ordinary Americans as is his candidate.

Wow, can you be more out of touch? There are plenty of well informed people who don't have time to make it to the polls because of their jobs. Consider Ohio in 2004, where at some polls the wait was literally hours. Not everyone has an entire free Tuesday to stand in line! In today's day and age, what difference does a few days of campaigning make? Election Day, good riddance!

Early/mail voters are not slothful. While they may be more partisan, they/we also have the opportunity to study candidates, endless initiatives and ballot proposals, and vote over a period of days before posting the ballot. The only way we could go back to a true election day is to declare the first Tuesday in November every 4 years a national holiday.

While I understand the author's arguments concerning early voting, I respectfully disagree that it is not "effortless". As a college student out of my home state, I do not have the luxury of simply being able to go to the polls on Election Day. In working to register other students to vote on my campus, I have found that many students are confused by the voter registration and absentee ballot processes. Each state has a different set of instructions, and verifying that a request has been received-or even determining who to call-is difficult, particularly for the average student, who may care about the election but has little time to follow up on specifics. (I would hardly call these busy and motivated students "slothful".) Perhaps by simplifying the process and making it more inclusive, my generation-and others who for whatever reason find it difficult to go to the polls on Election Day-could better connect with experience of coming together as Americans to elect our new president.