[EL] Change early vote?

Fri Jun 5 11:27:49 PDT 2015

A few quick responses.

First, there are a few states that allow an individual to "recast" a vote that has already been cast early.  I wish I could name them all--I would be the one to know--but off the top of my head, all I can say is that I know there are a few.  And my recollection is that there are an extremely low number of "regret" voters, those who choose to recast the ballot.

I have also conducted multiple surveys on this same question, asking a variety of things, such as "when did you make your decision," "why did you choose to vote early," "do you regret casting an early ballot."  While Thomas Cares's experiences as a candidate and in political clubs may be different, the data I have collected indicate that virtually no voters indicate that they would have changed their vote.

I would not personally use a word like "corrupting" the political process, but it is likely that early voting alters the dynamics of the campaign.  If you think this through, however, I don't think the conclusion is as black and white as Thomas makes it out to be.

It is true that under an early voting system, campaigns must get information out to the citizenry earlier.  We could argue that this is a good thing because it allows this information to be disseminated, evaluated, and potentially responded to.  Contrast this with a system where a last minute attack ad is released or a story planted in the media the day before Election Day. 

In addition, it's very clear that those voters who choose to cast an "early" early ballot--say 20 days before--are precisely the kinds of voters who have already made up their minds, and for whom the last 20 days don't really make much of a difference.  The typical early voter is more politically engaged, more politically informed, and more partisan. These are just the kinds of people who make up their minds early.  

Election calendars are always artificial in some sense, and it's not clear to me that having a 20 day voting period automatically leads to serious problems in the system, at least no one has really demonstrated this in a convincing way.  This does not mean it can't be done. 

I think having a "regret" balloting system would address some of the concerns raised by Thomas.  I'll try to track down the states that already do this.  I just wanted to chime in that the idea that early voting encourages a large amount of uninformed voting has not been sustained  by any empirical studies that I am aware of.

---
Paul Gronke	

Professor, Reed College and
Daniel B. German Endowed Visiting Professor, Appalachian State University

Director, Early Voting Information Center
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd
Portland OR 97202

EVIC: http://earlyvoting.net

On Jun 4, 2015, at 5:20 PM, Greenberg, Kevin <Kevin.Greenberg at flastergreenberg.com> wrote:

> In Pennsylvania (what I know) anyone can (and in fact must if in the county) vote in person even if they submitted an absentee or alternative ballot.  For that reason all absentee/alternative ballots are checked against poll books before tabulation.  
> 
> Don't know how feasible that is in a "all mail" or similar election and wouldn't work at all if early votes are on a machine.   But it can be done in at least small batches (maybe 1% of entire canvass, including the provisionals which don't have these issues).  
> 
> Kevin Greenberg
> 215-279-9912
> kevin.greenberg at flastergreenberg.com
> 
>> On Jun 4, 2015, at 6:06 PM, Thomas J. Cares <Tom at TomCares.com> wrote:
>> 
>> In early voting practices, is there precedent for states making it easy for one to change their early vote? I mean campaigns are on full steam in those final days, it seems to corrupt the political process to allow ballots to be cast 20 days early. In my participation in democratic clubs, I commonly hear last minute remorse over a mailed in vote "wow, I didn't know that school board candidate thinks evolution should be stripped from biology class; I can't believe I sent my ballot in, voting for her."
>> 
>> When I was a candidate, towards the very end, I had people tell me "I wish I didn't already send in my ballot, I wish I would have voted for you." Which could be disingenuous except one such person offered to volunteer a little for the campaign in the final days.
>> 
>> See, I tend not to mail my ballot early, because I don't know how campaigns will develop - if someone might have a Monday night Todd Akin moment that costs them my respect.
>> 
>> But, ideally, the state would allow people to still show up on Election Day and request their cast ballot arrange to be discarded, and cast a new one. Not just so voters can change their mind, but so campaigns are not so inhibited to keep making their case until the final day.
>> 
>> I realize some of the logistical challenges in doing this, which seem minor, in my view.
>> 
>> Has it been done?
>> 
>> -Tom
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> 
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