please explain early voting and LINES to me

[deenass]

I don't get it - what IS early voting? Is it different from absentee? And why are there SUCH long lines (people waiting HOURS to vote)/

Are THAT many more people voting this year? Where I live, you vote based on your address at a specific location (you can't vote at another one). Even if ALL my neighbors showed up at one time to vote, the line wouldn't be that long.

What do I not understand? My mother is SO concerned that she will have to wait HOURS tomorrow.

FWIW - I live in the suburbs of CT. So, clearly there are regional differences, but I just don't get it. (I'm not dumb, I think I just don't know what the differences are).

[mommylamb]

My parents live in CT, and they are voting on election day and don't expect long lines (actually, I thought there was no early voting in CT, but I could be totally wrong, I live in VA now, so I already did the in-person absentee voting, which is what they call it here).

I think the main difference between early voting and absentee voting is that most of the time absentee voting is a mail in thing and early voting is an in person thing. As I said, we have a hybrid of the two here in VA called in-person absentee. You have to check off one of the various excuses for why you are voting absentee, but you can do it in person.

As for turn out, I think they're really expecting huge turn out in a lot of states. I for one am glad that I don't have to go out and stand in line tomorrow.

[brittone2]

In most areas that have early voting, only a small percentage of precincts are open vs. all of the precincts. That equals long lines in many cases. I think in FL only about 5% of the total number of precincts were open for early voting. After the problems with FL in the past, many FL voters want their vote counted and they want to vote in person.

Another reason for early voting is that at least in some states (here in NC for example), you can vote at *any* precinct open for early voting in your county. So there are only a few precincts open, but you can pick any of the ones that are open in your county. This can make it easier for people to vote closer to their work/school in some cases (possibly voting over lunch break for example). It also helps reduce (at least in theory) voter suppression because precincts in certain socio-economic areas are well known for not having enough voting machines, and they often get voting machines handed down from more affluent areas. They are more likely to have to deal w/ machines breaking, etc. Some say this contributes to voter suppression...those who live in less well-off areas have fewer voting machines available to them, longer lines (and many have jobs where they can't spend hours in line to vote), etc., making t hem less likely to vote.

By allowing voters to vote in any precints within their county open for early voting (at least, that's how it is here in NC, where things are *very* tight), it means that they are more likely to have better access to adequate voting machine numbers, as well as machines that are less likely to break down.

A big cornerstone of the Obama campaign has been GOTV *early*. It frees up resources (people, time, etc.) to get even more voters out on election day.

Lines here on the weekend for voting were pretty long...people trying to vote on the weekend early, particularly those who don't have jobs that make it easy for them to access the polls on election day.

Turnout in some areas of the country is expected to be very high. Those of us who live in more affluent areas, suburban areas, etc. may never see super long lines. Unfortunately, in certain urban precincts, the number and condition of voting machines is often *highly* inadequate, even under normal circumstances. With a high inner-city turnout expected in many areas, people obligated to vote at a specific precinct may be forced to endure extremely long lines. Many of us never have that experience, but it has happened in certain urban areas for decades.

I think PA is now requiring paper ballots be offered under certain circumstances if voting machines go down in a precinct. We'll see what happens. IMO, that should happen everywhere.

I think in 04, in some urban areas where there were problems w/ voting machines, some people waited 10 hours to vote. I'm sure many more people couldn't take that much time off from work without being late or penalized, and so they never got to vote.

[jk3]

I'm interested in how it is going to play out tomorrow. The waits are typically minimal but this is the first time I'm voting in a presidential election in this town. I think everyone will turn out as we have a slew of important local elections as well.