To Vote Early or To Vote on Election Day – That is the Question

Early Voting has taken on a very negative connotation. Let’s dig into what the heck has happened.

two different schools of thought. . .

The first is only vote on Election Day because it prevents voter fraud, take as many people as you can with you, and call to get out the vote on Election Day, even though it may be more inconvenient due to longer vote lines, poor weather conditions, and of course personal issues such as last minute car problems, illness, or other obligations.
The second, is vote early, and invite others to vote early along with you – bank as many votes as you possibly can so those votes are guaranteed when the counting begins as the polls close on Election Day. In some states the counting may actually begin prior to the polls closing but results are not announced until polls actually close.

and WHY THAT IS. . .

1980 – 1986

Prior to 1980 early voting by the general public outside of casting an Absentee ballot did not exist. Absentee ballots were originally made available to members of the Military during the Civil War. Most people went to the polls in their precincts across the country on Election Day as prescribed by law or a written request by mail. In either case you would not be granted the opportunity to vote an absentee ballot unless you had a good reason to do so, such as you would not be physically present in your State on Election Day, had a planned surgery, or similar reason that would prevent you from appearing at a polling place. In most counties you would be allowed to vote there at the counter or take a ballot with you to mail back or be mailed a ballot that you could mail back. That changed in 1980 when California loosened its excuse requirement to vote by mail, then by 1996 expanded to early in person voting at satellite voting locations in 1996 in several States like Florida, Tennessee, and Texas. Since that time it has expanded to every state in some capacity, and to all mail in ballots in a few states like Washington and Oregon.

Even though early voting has gained significantly in popularity, many people still vote on Election Day, whether out of habit or out of their respect for the Constitution’s single day for Elections. The trend has been skewed heavily toward the Democratic Party with respect to those who vote early. Republican Voters are more likely to show up on Election Day, but to be sure there are plenty of people, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans who voted in the General Election on Election Day.

Why then does it matter when/how someone votes? Well, it really should not. There should be the same care given to each ballot regardless of when it is cast, and the chain of custody of that ballot should be as protected 90 days before Election Day as it is on Election Day itself. There are many people who request a mail in ballot and drop their ballot off at the poll in their precinct on Election Day simply because it gives them more time to consider their vote and to make sure they have made the correct choice. Voting early too far ahead of an election may cause voters remorse because of new information that is revealed prior to election day about a particular candidate or political party, or a ballot initiative. There is also a more sinister reason not to vote early, and that is of course the possibility of fraud.

2000 – 2016

It has long been widely reported in the media that there is very little voter fraud, and the amount that is exposed never amounts to enough to change the result of an election. Except that is not true because elections have been overturned due to voter fraud, and while they may not necessarily be national races, they are in fact impactful elections and present a danger to our system of voting. At least one primary race for US House of Representatives was reversed due to voter fraud. But that is not the only issue people are concerned about. Their concerns are not misguided especially given several very close national elections in 2000, 2004, and 2016. In all three of these General Elections the GOP Presidential Candidate was declared the winner and in all three elections there were accusations of Voter Fraud or other types of fraud hurled at the winners, to the point they were repeatedly and regularly referred to as Illegitimate. That was true especially for George W. Bush in 2000 and again for Donald J. Trump in 2016.

2020, Covid-19 and Trump

In the General Election of 2020 however not only was caution thrown to the wind, so was the United States Constitution and the Constitutions of the Several States under the guise of “so called” Emergency Powers. There can be no grant of “Emergency Power” that subverts the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution is the Supreme Law of our Land. No Governor or Secretary of State of Commissioner of Elections has the right or the authority to change the law as prescribed by the Constitution on their own accord. No Legislature has the authority to sign away its duty to uphold the Constitution of the United States. These are undeniable and undisputable truths.

Regardless, that is exactly what was predicted in the late spring of 2020 and it is what happened in Primary Elections and in the General Election in November of 2020. States all across the country prepared and mailed out “mail-in ballots” to virtually every person on their voter rolls regardless of how long it had been since they had last cast a ballot, or whether any check had been done to determine if a voter were alive still living in the State or if they had died. Ballots were mailed to College Students in Apartment Complexes who had not been students for a decade, and to many people who had been occupants of cemeteries for even longer. There was virtually no concept of control, nor any manner by which to impose it successfully. People were told to use their mail in ballot and not to venture out to the polls due to the danger posed by SARS CoV 2 (Covid-19) and millions of voters did as they were told.

While this concern was one problem, another problem loomed large that had been a concern in elections that had taken place in states where both early voting and mail in voting were popular. States like Minnesota and California where something called Ballot Harvesting had taken place and would again in 2020 and continues to this day.

Ballot Harvesting is where ballots are collected from voters at their home, or at a nursing home, or a church, or a place of business by anyone. However, in some states by people certified to do so, and the collected ballots are taken to either a ballot drop box which could be located anywhere, or to a central location where ballots are collected and taken to the county board of elections or directly to the county board of elections depending on the jurisdiction. In any case there is no secure chain of custody, not even that of the United States Postal Service to protect the integrity of those ballots.

Risks of Early Voting vs On Election Day

Still yet another concern is ballot counting. This is not the actual counting of early voted ballots, but the counting of the number of early ballots that come in from specific areas. It is not a secret that there are precincts that are heavily Democratic and those that are heavily Republican, as well as mixed precincts. If there is a large push to get out the vote and there are a lot of ballots that come in from specific precincts it is not difficult to make an educated guess as to the number of ballots that are likely to swing one way or another for a particular candidate or party. When this happens there is a perceived advantage to those who have that information made available to them.

If a party has knowledge of the potential number of votes in a precinct or group of precincts, they will also know what number of votes are necessary to both offset those votes and to overcome that deficit in the count if their side were to come up short. Armed with that knowledge and knowing that once ballots are no longer in the secure envelopes that they are exactly the same as any other ballot, adding additional ballots in the necessary number would not be impossible in order to skew the outcome of an election.

While this should not be a concern, and while each and every ballot should find its way to the proper place to be verified as legitimate and properly counted, the scenarios that have been discussed are not farfetched or impossible to imagine. In fact, the mere imagining that there is the possibility wreaks of the potential for fraud. Given that in 2020 more votes were cast for a President of the United States than ever in the history of our country, and that the incumbent President received millions more votes than he had captured to win the office the first time in a close election against a formidable opponent, it seems unlikely that the motivation of the American People who as a rule fail to show up to vote at lower rates than any other developed country on the planet would exercise their franchise with renewed vigor is shocking at best. This especially since with Covid-19, even a trip to the mailbox could put a person’s life in jeopardy if that person were to listen to some of the authorities given the bully pulpit to do so.

The Final Decision is Yours

Even so, it is important more than ever that people vote. If you vote early, make sure that your ballot is secure and is sent to a place that is not a drop box. Do not give your ballot to someone you do not know to take your ballot to be voted for you. Always follow up to be sure your vote is counted. Most states have ballot tracking capability. If you accept a mail in ballot, you can still drop it off on Election Day. Do not drop you mail in ballot in a drop box. It is a mail in ballot,so either mail it in, take it into the board of elections, or to an early voting center. Make sure that your family and friends do not fail themselves or their votes for the sake of perceived convenience. Your vote is too precious in this election especially but always.

In Conclusion

Ballot Fraud is real, it has happened, and elections have been changed. Recent Polls have shown that even those who previously believed the 2020 was the “most secure election ever” no longer have that confidence. Make sure that you contact your State Legislators and tell them how important Ballot Integrity is to you, and how important your vote is to you. Tell them that only United States Citizens should vote in the United States of America for the Federal, State and Local Elections. They have the duty to make sure that is the law.