Photo credit: dailycaller.com
Phyllis Schlafly on early
voting, especially in Ohio, from Townhall:
Although
the midterm elections are still two weeks away, about two million Americans
have already voted. The circus of early and mail-in voting undermines the
federal law, which provides: "The Tuesday next after the first Monday in
November, in every even numbered year, is established as the day for the
election."
When our national
elections were held on one unifying day, discussions and debates could continue
among family, neighbors and the media up until the day that virtually everyone
voted. The one and only debate between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter occurred only
a week before Election Day in 1980, with the candidates tied in the polls while
a television audience of perhaps 120 million people watched.
Why rampant early voting
is even allowed remains a mystery. The Constitution requires that the members
of the Electoral College, who elect the president, must cast their votes on the
same day throughout the nation, because our founding fathers wisely sought to
avoid the mischief caused by early voting.
Yet in this year's race
for the U.S. Senate in Iowa, which may decide which party controls the Senate
beginning January, some 170,000 Iowans had already cast their votes before the
candidates held a key debate. Those votes that are cast before debates are held
can hardly be desirable.
In Congress, a
representative may change the vote he cast for or against a piece of
legislation up until all the votes are cast and the voting period is closed.
But the millions who vote early cannot change their vote based on new
information, and candidates are wasting time and money campaigning in front of
people who have already voted.
Because of the Ebola
scandal, some may wish to change their vote, but that is impossible for those
who have already voted. Some early voters may die before Election Day, and
early voting allows the votes of those dead people to be included. If there is
any dispute over whether their votes were valid or fraudulent, they are no
longer with us to defend themselves.
Typically, there are no
poll watchers during early voting, so the integrity of the casting of the
ballots cannot be monitored. Many of the early votes are cast in a coercive
environment, such as a union boss driving employees to the polls and watching
over the process so there is no guarantee that their votes will be private.
Democrats promote early
voting for the same reason they oppose voter ID: because they view early voting
as helping their side. In the absurdly long 35-day period of early voting in
Ohio in 2012, Democrats racked up perhaps a million-vote advantage over
Republicans before Election Day was ever reached.
. . .
Romney
lacked a message, too, but he was mainly defeated by the Democrats' superb
ground game, which exploited early voting in key states such as Florida and
Ohio. By continuously updating their computer-based information about who had
not yet voted, Democrats could harass and nag low-information voters until they
turned in their ballots.
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