Early voting could go nationwide, experts say

[dharmavati]

(CNN) -- The unexpected wave of millions of early voters casting ballots for Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama may prompt Congress to mandate some form of early voting nationwide for future elections, experts say. So far, more than 24.4 million voters have cast ballots in states where early voting is allowed, providing convenience for voters and,

Comments

[unspooling]

Agreed! Or, at the very least, allow people the option to vote by mail. Hell, all of OR votes by mail.

[schmiss]

Hmm I am divided.

Early voting is good for the campaign in the lead of course. But can't it lead to a lot of trouble with ballots going uncounted, getting lost, etc?

In MN we don't have early voting and we apparently have one of the best voting systems in the country. I have to wonder if that would change.

[dharmavati]

Fair point. :/ Mostly, I'm concerned about people not able to vote at all because of the time constraint and busy personal schedules but implementing this would require more/better organization in the future. Of course, they could change election day to the weekend so that most people would be able to vote but that's just crazy talk. :P

[bushy_brow]

Lots of people work on weekends, too.  :-(

[tejas]

Lots of folks work 7 to 7 (or later) on weekends, too.

(Let's hear it for data center folks! :-)

[katastrophe1187]

Seriously! One day to vote is fucking ridiculous. They should make it a Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday thing.

[cut_piece]

that would be awesome if every state adopted early voting! it's crazy that we don't have consistency for a national election

[joaniemaloney]

I never realized there early voting wasn't nationwide for the States. It seems ridiculous with all the long lineups and the population to push it all on one day.

[koalafrog]

I didn't know early voting existed (besides absentee) until this year because I'm from a state that didn't start doing it until this year. Now if only they could make it so that you don't have to wait 8 hours to vote early...

[a_model_citizen]

It's so crazy to imagine that people have to wait 8 hours to early vote! Here in NV, it took me 5 minutes from the time I got in line to the time I left the booth. The longest wait I've heard anyone mention was 30-45 minutes.