Voting Early
Today is the day that absentee ballots for the November 3rd general election will be mailed out…and the first day of in-person early voting at county courthouses and select satellite voting centers.
So literally, you could go today and cast your full ballot in the 2020 general election. But why would you want to?
I supposed you could be one of those who say you already know you’re voting for Trump or Biden, and nothing that happens between now and election day could change your mind. But is that really true?
Beyond that, what about all the other races on the ballot, ones which arguably affect your lives every day in greater ways…not just congressional races, but state legislative races. And many counties have important races, for sheriff and other offices. Do you have all the information you need in order to cast a responsible and informed ballot?
Sure, the parties wants strong partisans to vote for their party’s candidates now, so they can check you off the list and move on to independents. But that’s good strategy, not good governing.
I don’t care for early voting, not at all. If you need an absentee ballot because you’re not able to show up in person on election day, that’s fine. A month seems appropriate for the ballot to be mailed to you, filled out, and mailed back. I’m not a fan of using absentee voting just because showing up is inconvenient.
And I do understand that not everyone apparently can go to the poll on November 3rd in person…but a month of early voting is far too much. I’d grudgingly go along with a week, but even that seems a bit much.
Just look at everything that has happened in the past week alone, not just at the presidential level…there were two U.S. Senate debates, newspaper endorsements, campaigns responding to the news cycle…so you want to vote now?News/Talk 1540 KXEL · Iowa Politics — Mon. Oct. 05, 2020
