And the polls are open
As of five days ago, people in the USA, beginning with the state of Wyoming, will be voting for the next President; absentee ballots are accepted in Wyoming from forty days before the general election.
Following a decision by the Ohio Supreme Court, voters in that state, where absentee voting is possible from today, will be able to register and vote on the same day. This is thought to favour groups one might expect to vote Democrat.
Regardless of who it might or not might favour, I think two things are important for the voting process. It must be easy and it must retain confidence. The US could learn from the UK in some areas - in particular, using a pencil on a string instead of a voting machine - while the UK could learn from some US states by bringing in early voting, perhaps instead of on-demand postal voting. Either way, changing the rules or not having the rules clear for nigh-on every eventuality reduces confidence in the process.
Cast your mind back to the debacle over the chads, hanging or otherwise, in Florida in 2000. Had procedures been in place in advance, a lot of the bad blood and accusations against Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris could have been avoided as well as maintaining confidence in the electoral process. Much as I approve of making registration and voting easier, amending the rules while in the process of an election seems to me to be asking for trouble and later, legal challenges.
The Early Voting Information Center has information on absentee and early voting on this webpage.
xD.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Is that exciting, Dave or a big yawn, the polls?
October 1st, 2008 at 1:27 am
In my opinion? Like many things, electoral administration isn’t necessarily the most interesting thing to a lot of people but it is important. People can becomes very interested when it goes wrong but I would not necessarily say that it’s good for democracy.
The opening of the polls is rather more interesting. People will be voting in dribs and drabs over the next four or so weeks. Postal, early and absentee votes could easily make the difference. In the UK, the political parties have cottoned onto this - I presume it’s the same in the US - as it gets some votes ‘in the bag’ and allows you to gauge how different groups are reacting.
xD.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Mrs Watt’s ballot just arrived. I liked the fact that the Green Party in Wisconsin is called ‘Wisconsin Green’… perhaps trying to entice a few ‘Cheeseheads’ to vote for them?