Turning over a new leaf: Early Voting

 This post was published in the Wilson Times Oct. 16, 2020

This year, for the first time in my existence, I am voting early. Early voting has become a part of the routine for every election year, and many people I know have said they enjoy voting early and enjoy the convenience of it.

While I have waited to vote on the official Election Day in the traditional manner, others would tell me, “I’ve already voted.”

A traditionalist, I found it satisfying to wait my turn on the one day that I and millions of others cast their ballots in a nationwide ritual of American democracy, an exercise as old as the United States. To me, Election Day was as exciting and as important as Independence Day, without the fireworks.

            But this year, with a dangerous pandemic making any large gathering a potential public health hazard, my wife and I decided we would vote early. If the virus didn’t grab us at the polling place, militant, armed “poll watchers” recruited by President Trump might endanger our lives in other ways. We could have voted by mail, but that option seemed less certain than an early appearance at a polling site and physically handing over our ballots for recording. With President Trump claiming mailed ballots are fundamentally fraudulent, I wanted my ballot to count. (Election officials have assured voters that voting by mail is secure.)

            As I am writing this, I cannot say that I have voted early. The first early voting day is Oct. 15, which is the deadline for this column. I fully expect to vote as planned. 

            I do have one experience in voting absentee: While fulfilling my military obligation in 1972, I would not be able to vote in North Carolina, where I was registered. I found out how to obtain an absentee ballot and mailed the completed form to the elections office. My vote counted.

            When I started work at The Wilson Daily Times, the late John Scott, editor at the time, warned me to always vote whenever there is an election. Scott’s thinking was that newspaper editors who failed to vote were leaving themselves open to criticism and ridicule if they urged others to vote but didn’t vote themselves. I don’t think I’ve missed a single election day since then.

            America has a poor record for turning out to vote. Only 56 percent of the voting age population voted in 2016, a presidential election year, which has higher turnout than non-presidential elections.

            Some have suggested making Election Day a national holiday as a way of encouraging and accommodating voters. That idea makes sense to me, but it hasn’t been adopted. Congress sets the date (currently the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November) for national elections. The states control most of the details of elections — the ballot, precincts, machinery, etc.

            And while America can claim its title as the oldest modern democracy, you don’t want to go back to the way our system worked at its inception. Originally, only white male property owners could vote. Women won the right to vote in 1920. The 15^th Amendment, ratified in 1870, extended the right to vote to non-whites whether they owned property or not. 

            It took the 14^th and 15^th Amendments, along with the 1965 Voting Rights Act, to ensure this year’s vote will be open to all Americans. So vote!