Posted on 10/21/2008 6:22:20 PM PDT by keepitreal
Many states permit early voting in presidential elections. While early voting as good public policy may be a matter of fair debate, the practice is in direct violation of federal law.
Under the Constitution, states are of course free to adopt whatever procedures they deem appropriate for the election of state, county and local officials as long as those procedures do not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution or the guarantee of Republican state government as set forth in Article IV, Section 4.
States are also free to appoint presidential electors in any manner they choose, although since 1876 all states have provided for the election of electors by the popular vote of the people. (Before 1876, many states used their legislatures to choose electors).
States are not free, however, to override or ignore federal election laws and statutes promulgated by Congress in accordance with Article II and the 12th Amendment.
Title 3 of Chapter 1 of the United States Code says, "The electors of President and Vice President shall be appointed, in each State, on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, in every fourth year succeeding every election of a President and Vice President." This date is now commonly referred to as Election Day.
.... federal law clearly requires that such state appointments of electors be made on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. States that permit early voting are authorizing the selection of electors days or weeks before the appointment date set forth in the U.S. Code.
There is no provision under the federal statute for states to alter the date of the election, to provide for alternate dates for the election, to add election days or to extend election days either before or beyond the date provided by federal law.
(Excerpt) Read more at rockymountainnews.com ...
Good legal arguments are made in this article.
The Constitution has long ago been abandoned.
I actually like early, in person, voting.
It keeps me from getting in fights with demo-idiots.
Cr@p of the 1st order.
The electors are not appointed until the votes are counted. That would be on Election Day.
“I actually like early, in person, voting.”
I like it too. In fact its my preferred method of voting.
However, I’m of the opinion that if you can’t make yourself available on Election Day to vote, you shouldn’t be voting at all. (Active Duty Military accepted, of course).
Go vote, get your finger purple, go home. Hey, it works.
I vote on election day like God intended it.
“Title 3 of Chapter 1 of the United States Code says, “The electors of President and Vice President shall be appointed, in each State, on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November”
Good point. The idea of extended voting and giving partison organizations like ACORN the ability to register voters is an invitation to fraud. The DNC tried to steal the election in 2000 and have been bitterly tried to rig the system ever since. I don’t know why people aren’t obligated to register at the DMV, city hall or some other government office instead of the B.S. of having teenagers running around with clipboards deciding who’s eligible to vote. There’s also no reason that people can’t just vote on Nov. 4. The DNC has fabricated this fantasy that people need a month to get off the sofa to pull a voting lever.
With so many people working two jobs, it's ridiculous to limit voting to one day. Some people can't even get off of work on that day. My dad was a firefighter who worked twenty-four hour shifts when I was growing up, and missed a couple of elections along the way.
I agree. This article is crap.
I’m getting real tired of hearing that ACORN registers low income people to vote as if they couldn’t register any other way.
As far as I’m concerned, if they can’t go get themselves registered like the rest of us then they should choose to stay home on election day as well.
Ridiculous. Some people are not available to vote on that day - firefighters, long distance truck drivers, folks on business trips, etc. Why are they less worthy of voting than others?
That’s what absentee voting is for.
It’s not about “not making yourself available” to vote, it’s about the crowds, convenience, and making voting more accessible to more people, thereby attracting more Americans to the polls.
Sadly, the Dems and their surrogate organizations have injected corruption into the process and given it a bad rap.
For many years I worked until 7:30 PM, and then had to close up shop. Getting to the polls before closing was a nightmare, so I voted absentee many times.
“The idea of extended voting and giving partison organizations like ACORN the ability to register voters”
The problem with your statement is you make it seem as both, extended voting options and ACORN, are one. They are not. Nor should they be. I’m one who doesn’t believe in outsourcing voter registration.
“That’s what absentee voting is for.”
True, that was one of the intentions, but, absentee voting by mail is only allowed in 28 states, or, with an excuse in 22. No-excuse permanent absentee voting is only allowed in 4 states. As well, in some States absentee ballots aren’t even counted unless the vote is close. And some States allow the Counties to decide on absentee ballot procedures.
“As far as I’m concerned, if they can’t go get themselves registered like the rest of us...”
I afree, there are more than 240 days a year in which to register in most States. That’s easily done, and no excuse is valid for not doing so.
“then they should choose to stay home on election day as well.”
Not always possible.
I agree. A lot of the shenanigans are in the offing with multi-day and mail-in voting.
Here in Michigan I can vote absentee for no other reasson than the fact that I don’t feel like walking 100 yds to the township office.
Some people need absentee voting and they have reasons but being too lazy should never be a reason. I hate to think where we’re going. We’ll end up with voting via internet and end up with a real mess.
All the absentee ballots are counted in Texas. The ballots of early voters are actually counted on Sunday before the the Tuesday election and reported at poll closing time on election day.
When I was growing up, my firefighter father missed voting a few times because of a shift change, or some other unforseen event. He was NOT lazy. He worked two jobs my entire childhood.
Let's see. You are opposed to early voting, but not to absentee voting. "That's what absentee voting is for."
When I point out that there is no constitutional difference between the two, you said you never claimed that absentee voting was constitutional, but you clearly implied that absentee voting was ok, while early voting is not.
Who's the "idiot" here? Perhaps the person with the faulty logic?
hmmmmmm
That's you.
Yes, I know. But what about the States that don’t? Or the number of instances where absentee ballots are lost, misplaced, or just ignored?
I just don’t see a problem with early, in person, voting. No one has yet to give a valid one.
Where I vote early, at my County div. of Registrars, it is quiet, calm, and there is a 100% ID check, as well as plenty of “issue” material on hand for further reading.
Early voting doesn’t violate that. Look at it:
“The electors of President and Vice President shall be appointed, in each State, on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, in every fourth year succeeding every election of a President and Vice President.”
Early voting isn’t appointing electors, counting the vote and determining the winner appoints electors. Voting happens BEFORE appointing, it is not the appointing in itself. So early voting is just starting the pre-appointment process early. There’s no rule against that. Technically you could run the vote whenever you want, so long as you don’t use it to appoint electors until the correct time.
Most early voters are not going to change their minds. They are, by and large, the party faithful. However, Obama has amassed the best ground game ever around the country, a product of the protracted, highly competitive Dem primary that put every state in play. I can see busload after busload of college students and welfare queens going to the polls in the next few weeks.
You’re the one attacking me on an argument I never made genius.
It’s idiot or democrat, take your pick.
Early voters get a real screwing if something happens to their candidate between the time they vote and the actual election day.
There’s nothing wrong with voting from comfort at home rather than go to the crowded drafty polling place. Especially in presidential years when they usually tack on a bunch of propositions. Voting at home means being able to do the research, make the decision and mark it down. Once the decision is made why should I have to wait, make my vote and get it over with. I
If you like voting in person on Election Day, great, enjoy it. I hate it, I always hated it, usually it’s in the first cold snap of the year and the doors are wide open and nobody turns on the heat, the place is depressingly empty, sometimes the idiots in charge move it without useful warning so then I have to go find it. All to make a bunch of dots I decided on weeks ago. Forget it, early voting, at home, in comfort.
Yeah, I forgot that memo.
One more argument I never made.
enjoy yorself genius.
You're preaching to the choir. I like the way Texas does early voting in person. Mail-in absentee ballots are still only allowed for people who can't be present in their county to vote either on election day or during early voting or those over 65 or who have a disablity. One really big advantage to early voting as opposed to election day voting is the ability to vote at any of the early voting locations in the county rather than just the precinct location on election day.
My county has a new online system for the voter database for use during early voting. When you vote, the election judge verifies that you have not previously voted anywhere else and then changes your status to "voted" so you can't go to any other early voting location to vote. Previously there was just a printed list updated nightly at each early voting location showing all the registered voters in the county and whether they have voted yet. There still is a printed list, but it is only used as backup in case the broadband connections for the laptops accessing the county database go down. Potentially it was possible to vote at multiple early voting locations on the same day, but not without being caught. One big advantage to the new voting machines is that they can display any precinct's ballot on any of the machines, so it isn't necessary to have physical paper ballots for every precinct available at every early voting location except for the provisional ballots. After signing the voter list, an election judge hands voter a 4-digit code that is valid for about 30 minutes, and it can be used on any voting machine at that location.
And get drunk!
It works for me!
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