Bigger (and more) is not always better -- Early Voting

On 8-3 AP's Dick Pettys -- one knowledgeable guy on Georgia history and politics -- has an article with the headline "Candidates retool in response to early voting."

The article notes: "A change in Georgia law that allows voters to cast a ballot the week before an election when it’s most convenient to them is causing candidates and political parties to rethink the way they play the closing game of their campaigns.

No longer restricted to a single voting day, some 76,000 people took advantage of Georgia’s early voting law in the state’s primary and nonpartisan judicial elections last month, accounting for more than 6 percent of the votes cast.

Experts believe the number will grow as more voters learn they have a new option for making their opinions count.

‘This changes the way campaigns and parties get out the vote. It changes it quite dramatically from election day to election week,’ said Marty Klein, communications director for the Georgia Republican Party.

Professional politicians aren’t sure yet which party is helped most by early voting.

In the July 20 primary, 42,118 early voters requested a Democratic ballot while 33,741 selected the Republican one.

'Anything that makes it easier to vote helps Democrats more. Our people work,’ said Democratic Party Chairman Bobby Kahn.

Klein, the GOP spokesman, said a party can’t make political hay out of the early voting law if it doesn’t have a well-organized grass roots structure in place. And Republicans will be ready to take advantage of it in November, he said."

Early voting -- sounds like a great idea doesn't it? It is in theory, but in practice it has the real possibility of becoming the bane of the election process.

As a kid growing up -- and with the rest of my Boy Scout troop -- during each election season I would work on Get Out the Vote campaigns with my mother who was a very active member of the League of Women Voters.

But having been involved in campaigns for years -- and what I am going to say is especially the case on local races -- absentee voting in Georgia has the potential and in many places is greatly abused. Twenty years ago I tried to no avail to get the ajc and former Attorney General Mike Bowers to review what was happening in Coffee County in the 1980's and take up the fight for me.

I know, it sounds a bit undemocratic; but in practice, 95% of it is legalized vote buying. By working absentee ballots, you can go into a primary or general election with a significant percentage of the vote already determined, and being that only some 30% vote anyway, the number that you need to turn out on election day becomes smaller. Again, this is mostly on the local level.

But now this ability to vote early is subject to the same abuse. I know many who voted during the week before the presidential preference primary and the week before July 20 did so for convenience and because they could, and this is what it was designed for. Absentee voting is for those who cannot vote on the applicable Tuesday.

But the Cynthia McKinney turnout in the week before July 20, as also happened in many local races this year, shows how the process can be abused. I hate to say it, but I predict that in large part this new way to cast our vote is going to come to reak of the same abuse as absentee voting in local elections.

But now the problem, or abuse, has gone from just being local to at least the congressional district (and hey, I know Ms. McKinney would have won anyway; she ran a controlled and effective campaign; her victory is not the issue).

(Lewis Massey and I are good friends, and when he was Secretary of State years ago, privately I used to give him hell for pushing the motor voter registration, etc. This is an entirely different issue, but if you don't care enough to go register, should you be allowed to register. Maybe so, maybe no, and another issue I admit.)

Bottom line -- as a Georgian I am not as interested in a high voter turnout as I am in an informed voter turnout.

When people read my website and see my platform and where I stand on the issues, many conclude hey, he is a just a regular ole Democrat. Now you may see the moderate-conservative part.