In Defense of Early Voting

I watched a video today of Conservative Commentator Fred Barnes suggesting that Early Voting had to be stopped.



His rationale seems to be that if you vote early you might miss out on important information that would change your mind at the last minute. He gives as examples The Reagan-Carter debate one week before the election and the 2004 last weekend disclosure of G.W. Bush's DUI arrest.

It is hard to take this seriously. DUI was a non issue as it should have been. The Debates are a different story and I would certainly advise anyone who still had doubts as to who to vote for to wait until the last possible moment or until they have made up their mind. I wouldn't however suggest that they should just keep waiting until the last moment in case someting comes up. What if it comes up at 9pm on Election night and you've already voted? What if some amazing relavation comes out on Wednesday afternoon? The October surprise syndrome is one of the most destrutive trends in national politics. We have been watching these two candidates for nearly 2 years now. If you don't know enough to pick one of them by all means wait another 3 days. If however you have already seen what you need to see, go and vote if your state allows early voting. The more people who vote early the less issues there will be with lines and issues on election day.