Your McCain-Feingold point has some validity. Solution: Repeal the obviously unconstituional McCain-Feingold law.

I don’t get your “Dean Scream” reference. Who are you referring to? You can private-respond that if you’d like.

A case can be made that the no-excuses-absentee movement is driven by those who wish to manipulate the system, and that they are suckering those who like place convenience above all else into helping them achieve their agenda.

I still say the Ford incident does prove my point, as it will change some undecided voters mids (conceivably in both directions), as it should.

Again… Why not? Are there ANY good reasons anyone here can cite EXCEPT last minute scandals? Because no one seems to be bothering to try.

Fraud may be one reason, but that could be handled with sensible ID laws.

> As I said in #3, the Ford incident proves my point.

Um, no it doesn’t. The existance of one possibly important scandal doesn’t magically turn the 99% of the OTHER scandals which are pure hot air into valid issues.

I submit to you that IN GENERAL, the person who disregards a politican’s past voting record to instead focus on the latest scandal might as well as wiped his bum with the ballot. Same for the person who focuses on the latest scandal instead of the longer sweep of the canidate’s history.

And even the example of Ford is weak… lacking the “temperment” of a congressman? Puh-leeze. Need I remind you that the man behind the “Dean Scream” is not only still a member of congress, his star is ascendant there? Clearly measuring a canidate’s temperment under stress is not a primary nor a secondary attribute for congressmen.

If the Diebold nightmare plays out 2 weeks from now, you will have a definite point until they get their act together (not, holding, breath, and hoping against hope that there is no disaster).

I could almost accept a 2-week window for early voting, but don\\\’t forget that early/absentee balloting is very vulnerable to fraud. All you need to recall is the Indian reservations that probably elected Johnson in SD with the help of suspicious registrations and absentee ballots.

With voter ID being required at the polls, expect the next place for fraud to be in absentees, where ID is not required (yet) — another reason why people should vote in person (I could accept voting early/absentee if you have to physically hand in your vote somewhere with an ID — sorry, no mail — but the howls over that would be deafening).

Finally, I do not think it is a matter of individual voter remorse, it is collective remorse if we someday get to the point where a large plurality vote early, and a damaging legitimate dealbreaker comes out in the waning days of an election (say, for example, a horrble domestic violence complaint that ACTUALLY HAPPENS a few days before the election. We had a DV situation in Ohio here with a primary winner in August (primary was in May), so it is not impossible. And that is just one example I can come up with off the top of my head.

I can’t buy the argument that people must wait for some potential meltdown before making a decision. It’s up to the voter whether he/she wants to risk voter remorse, or wait for the last phony hit piece to make a decision.

I prefer using a paper absentee ballot to the more complicated, highly suspect machines, and enjoy taking all the time I need, with reference materials at hand, at home rather than feel rushed in a cramped cardboard booth with people waiting.

None of the absentee ballots are counted until the polls close, so I really don’t understand the magic of everyone physically voting on the same day. What’s so bad about voters casting votes no more than 2-3 weeks in advance that they should be denied the option?

So many politicians, esp non-incumbents, play their images and positions so close to the vest that the only way we MIGHT get a chance to know them is to see how they handle themselves in stress situations.

If the logic of having debates is to help people decide their votes before election day, why do we in so many states effectively allow everyone to vote before some of the debates even take place?

Not only do I need to vote early this year–I’ll be out of town on election day due to unanticipated work needs–but there really isn’t anything I need to know about the candidates in my elections.

The only thing I will miss the the off-chance of an out-of character bit of behavior by one of them. “Out-of-character” doesn’t tell me anything except, perhaps, that the candidate made a goof.

In all of my “big” offices up for election, all of the candidates have prior political records that say far more about them than anything that happens in the week before election day.

I have far more information available to me about all cadidates than I ever had during the 25 years I voted absentee due to my being stationed abroad for the USG.

As I said in #3, the Ford incident proves my point. Who are YOU to say some similar incident wouldn’t change your mind close to Election Day? As I said in the post, some people who voted for Ford early are likely regretting it.

From your comment, one has to wonder how we have survived 109 congressional elections with close to 100% of the population voting on election day.

The media and press will stop with the late hits and disclosures when politicians decide that full disclosure from Day 1 (warts and all) works, and when the electorate gets engaged enough to discern truth from fiction. The problem is NOT with the fact that elections are held on a given day.

However, I usually have an out of town conference during the May primaries, or had a medical issue and was on bedrest at home on primary election day. I didn’t hesitate to go ahead and vote early. It’s the same ballot, booth, and sign-the-registry process as if I had waited until election day.

Those times I voted early, no new information came out that made me regret my decision or change my mind.

… why is the given point in time important? What makes November more magical than October, or December? Are my feelings back in March somehow invalid, that I don’t have a right to make up my mind then? And what if I do? Am I ‘cheating’ if I make up my mind in advance? Who are you or anyone else to police that?

>People voting before Election Day are voting without the full knowledge of the candidates…

You mean they are voting WITH 99% of the knowlegde they need… things like party affiliations, past behaviour, voting records… but MINUS the last minute juicy scandal. If you’ll forgive me for saying so, that last 1% is often pure garbage. Citing a possible exception does not disprove the rule.

Last minute scandals are in general perhaps the worst, most frivilous way to base your voting descision. We need LESS of that, not more.

Plus, it puts more power in the hands of the media, which many do not trust, by forcing voting descisions deep into the McCain-Feingold zone and who are generally the arbiter of the aforementioned scandals.

#2, That is an excellent way of stating it.

I agree. All due respect to Glenn Reynolds & Dr. Helen and everyone else exercising their legal right. But essentially they’re voting in a different election.