"Vote early and vote often, said William Porcher Miles in 1858. Today -- almost 150 years later -- no one any longer advocates voting often in an election, but for Americans throughout the country, voting early is increasingly popular.
This year's California recall election was no exception. Between one-quarter and one-third of the votes were absentee. Millions of Californians made their minds up early and cast their ballots, missing the flurry of charges and countercharges in the final week of the campaign.
Californians' method of voting mirrors a national trend. Over the last quarter of a century, a quiet revolution has changed the way many Americans vote.
In 1972, no state allowed early voting except by absentee ballot for those unable to get to a polling place, and only 4% of Americans opted for that. By 2000, as reported by the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project, 14% of ballots were cast absentee.
In some localities where an "excuse" is no longer necessary to vote absentee, more than 60% of ballots are now cast absentee.
More than 25 states allow in-person "early voting." In Texas, for instance, more than one-quarter choose the early-vote option.
And of course, since 1996, all voters in Oregon have cast their ballots by mail. Approximately one month before "election day," voter pamphlets are mailed to registered voters in Oregon, followed in a week by the ballot itself. Though Oregonians report a high level of satisfaction, the advertised benefits -- lower costs, more accurate counts and more thoughtful and deliberative voting -- are far less apparent.
Why have we caught the reformist bug? There is a good practical reason: cost.
Democratic elections are expensive affairs. The United States is unique among nations in the number and frequency of elections. The recall and initiative process is virtually nonexistent in other countries.
Furthermore, states and localities, rather than the federal government, control and pay for election administration in the U.S., unlike in other nations. Other alternatives -- a national election day holiday and a 24-hour voting period -- are cost-prohibitive.
Early voting is certainly a cheaper way to conduct democracy. And early voting might be a more accurate way to conduct it as well. The Cal Tech-MIT team found that voting by mail resulted in lower levels of "residual ballots," those votes that for one reason or another are not counted. Subsequent research found that absentee ballots were also counted more accurately.
