Early Voting

It’s incredible that early voting has only this year arrived in New York State. What took so long? If you look at New York Senate party control, you will understand. You might also ask why it didn’t happen in 2008, but you have to remember who the ineffective Governor was at the time…

So which states currently have early voting? Here’s a map, from the National Conference of State Legislatures:

Sadly, once a state has enacted early or advance voting, maintaining it is not a sure thing. The New York Times recently reported efforts in Texas to revoke early voting on campuses, citing spurious reasons. The real reason, of course, is Republican voter suppression of Democrat voters. Meanwhile, in Florida, the Republican legislature basically overruled the will of their constituents, who voted in favor of restoring voting rights for felons who had served their term. Of course, most of those re-enfranchised voters would probably vote Democratic, so how to foil them? Institute what amounts to a poll tax – require that all fines and fees be paid before being allowed to vote. 

I felt it was my civic duty not just to vote, but to be a “first day voter,” as I was termed when greeted at the polling site I selected (there are seven places in Monroe County, and you can choose whatever is most convenient (go to EARLY VOTING). Because the fewer the numbers who turnout early, the easier it will be for the “suppression” party to claim that the costs exceed the benefits, and work to reverse access as soon as they're back in control. The process was super simple – the poll workers looked us up on a computer, and then voters signed an electronic affidavit. A nearby machine printed out a ballot with a number that matched the identification tied to my name, and from there, the process was the same as regular Tuesday voting. 


On my way out, I informed the poll workers that I intend to go to my regular polling place on November 5, just to make sure that I’m not allowed to vote again. A supervisor who overheard informed us that the Board of Elections is going to manually match the early voter rolls to the printed rolls and indicate on the latter who has already voted. I am glad that they are doing everything they can to ensure a smooth and trustworthy process of early voting. And now that we have early voting, perhaps I will volunteer to be a poll worker in the next election!