A conversation about early voting is playing out in the New York Times this week. It started Monday, when chief political correspondent Jeff Zeleny reported that early voting is changing the way political campaigns are waged across the United States, if not voter participation.

The calendar may still say September, but people can begin casting their ballots on Tuesday in Ohio. Voting is already under way in Georgia, Iowa and four other states, with Arizona, California and Illinois set to start in the next two weeks.

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While people in New York must have an excuse to vote before Election Day, which is why only 5 percent cast absentee ballots in the presidential race two years ago, most states no longer have that restriction. Voting alternatives range from a pure mail-in ballot in Oregon to a three-week period of balloting in Florida, Texas and Nevada.

Early voting has hardly driven all eligible citizens to vote. Turnout has increased only slightly since 2005 when many states began making voting more convenient. But it has made it far easier for campaigns to find voters who would be likely to be supportive if they could get them to the polling place. And with 70 percent of Americans now able to take advantage of no-excuse early and absentee voting, the trend is permanent.

“It’s not going to represent a seismic shift in the number of people voting,” said Dan Tokaji, an Ohio State University law professor who studies early voting and election law. “The convenience of voting is a factor, but it’s not the major reason that people don’t show up to vote.”

Today, the Times has posted an online back-and-forth between columnists Gail Collins and David Brooks about what they see as the downside to early voting: voters may cast a ballot too early, before a big development in the campaign that may cause them to want to take back their vote. (more…)

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New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was on the TODAY show this morning talking with host Meredith Viera about NBC’s Education Nation summit. But the first question posted to the mayor by Viera was about the upcoming midterm elections. She told the mayor about “a recent poll” which found that only 55% of young voters are “absolutely certain” they are going to head to the polls in November. Bloomberg was quick to respond with his thoughts about low voter participation.

I think it’s disappointing the percentage of the public that votes every year. It’s always much too low. People around the world would fight and die for the right to vote and we take it for granted…

The public is frustrated. No question about that. We have too many people who have lost their jobs, lost their houses. The public doesn’t have confidence in the future. For the first time they think maybe their children will not have a better life than they did.

No better reason than to start talking about fixing America’s broken voting system. You can read our previous coverage of Mike Bloomberg’s election reform plan by clicking the links below. For the full video of the Bloomberg’s appearance on TODAY, click here.

Previously:
NYC Election Board’s “Royal Screw-Up”
Mayor Bloomberg Announces Election Reform Plan

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New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg wasn’t happy with the way the city’s new electronic voting machines debuted (or didn’t) this Tuesday. We’ve been following the change-over to these new machines (and Mayor Bloomberg’s election reform plan) for some time. The mayor didn’t hold back his feelings when it came to mishaps on Election Day. Here’s a transcript via WNYC.

Today, unfortunately, we are hearing disturbing reports that some polling sites have been very disturbing.

We’ve been told of some polling sites that opened two to four hours late.

That is a royal screw-up – and it’s completely unacceptable.

It means some voters waited for hours – and other voters may not have a chance to cast their ballots at all.

We’ve also gotten reports of broken and missing scanners, emergency ballots, and poor customer service.

Other counties have also experienced problems, but I’m not sure any of them have been as severe as we’ve seen in our five boroughs.

Over the past five years, the City has provided the Board of Elections with more than $77 million to make the transition to the new machines – and that doesn’t include the $85 million in federal funds used to purchase the new machines.

But there is a total absence of accountability for how the Board performed on Election Day – because the Board is a remnant of the days when Tammany Hall ran New York.

New Yorkers deserve better than this – and the time has come to fix it. And let me repeat that for our Spanish speaking audience:

Los neoyorquinos merecen mejor – y ha llegado la hora de arreglarlo.

We owe that to all of you – and to every voter.

No democracy is perfect, but the more people participate in civic life, the stronger that the democracy is.

And that’s why voting is so important – and that’s why the commitment we’re making today is so important – and I just want to thank all of you here and wish you all the best of luck. I wish our Board of Elections had performed as well as all of you guys are going to do.

For WNYC’s complete blog post about Mayor Bloomberg’s reaction, click here.

Photo of NYC on Election Day via Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times.

Posted in Election 2010, Election Reform, Mayor Bloomberg, New York | Comments Off

We’re a proud partner of 10Questions.com, the people-powered political debate tool where ANYONE can get our politicians to answer questions. I put together this video to let people know about how easy it is to participate. You have until September 21st to submit questions for candidates across the country.

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