Voting should be easy, convenient and efficient — no lines, and no panic about choosing between voting or being late to work. With that in mind, the Brennan Center for Justice recommends that New York and other states with outdated election schedules provide for a two-week voting period instead of cramming it all into one day. At least 32 states and the District of Columbia offer some form of early voting, and apparently voters like it a lot. As one former Nevada election official told the Brennan Center analysts, “Early voters are happy voters, and Election Day voters are grumpy voters.” The center’s survey found that early voting also means shorter lines, better performance by poll workers and more time to fix broken machines or other problems.
Not all lawmakers are eager to expand their electorate. When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, minority voters in Florida took advantage of the state’s early voting and flocked to the polls. Many cast their ballots on Sunday after church — “Souls to the Polls,” as Floridians called it. But shortly before the 2012 election, Florida’s Republican legislators cut the number of days and hours almost in half. The long lines that resulted on Election Day finally shamed the Legislature into allowing local election officials to add extra days in future elections.
Full Article: Low-Stress Voting – NYTimes.com.