[MaineRepublic]

What exactly is "early voting"? I know what voting by absentee ballot is, but I've never heard of actually showing up at a polling place before election day.

[mathluv]

We have early voting in Texas. You can go to several polling places, and get a ballot to vote early, or you can request a ballot by mail. None will be turned in or counted until election day.

[MeekOneGOP]

In Texas, we can vote in our county at ANY voting place, just show the voter card or Tx DL. It started this morning and will go through October 31st. They'll count the votes on November 2nd with the votes that day. It allows people the opportunity to vote with more convenience so you don't have to fight the crowd on election day.

Florida has an early voting period also, and it began today as well.

[deport]

What exactly is "early voting"?

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It's an opportunity to vote in person prior to election day... There are several locations scattered around the county and you can vote at any of them.... Some are in government buildings, schools, libraries, or even retail outlets with some of the locations being open on Sat and Sun... It's main feature for me is convience. I can vote when I'm near one of the locations and don't have to fight the crowds on election day. The process runs this time for us from Oct.18 through Oct. 29.

Also the early voting feature makes it much harder to get an absentee ballot. You have to meet some very limited criteria in order to qualify because of the additional days made avialable with in person early voting. In Texas some elections will have upwards of 40% of the vote cast in the early voting stage.