Colin McKnight
It took about 15 minutes, roughly, and there were only three people in line ahead of me. I thought early voting would take longer because I had to fill out a change of address, but that added 90 seconds, maybe. Upstairs in Talley Student Union, all of the volunteers were kind and helpful and made exercising my civic duty a breeze, with no fuss or nonsense.
Walking out of Talley though, I started wondering about why America, in general, is so obsessed about Election Day. In 2016, I voted on Election Day, but only because I had no idea what I was doing and what the wait time would be. Two years later, as I walked back to my car, I became increasingly frustrated at the fact that Election Day is given way more prominence by the media and society over the extended period of time given for early voting, as the latter is easily the better of the two.
For North Carolina, early voting started Wednesday, Oct. 17, and goes until Saturday, November 3, meaning those who can vote have a long, convenient period of more than two weeks to do their civic duty whenever they feel like it.
For the moment, as early voting remains the lesser of the two in terms of popularity, most ballots will be less packed, less stressful, and more accessible. And while a quieter atmosphere and a bigger period for voting might not be convenient for every single American, it will certainly allow some a chance to do their part who may be unable to otherwise when the big day comes.
People pass off the early voting argument as just a matter of convenience, and they’re absolutely right. But that’s the whole point. Despite the fact that elections govern who rises to power, and thus the future of the nation and its families, poll statistics have shown time and time again that it’s just not resonating with a notable chunk of absent Americans.
Simply put, one of the major reasons that a lot of people shy away from voting is the ease of access. One’s voice may change the future of the nation for years and decades to come, but if the process is inconvenient or frustrating, then that voice may never be heard. Convenience and comfort dictate the fates of many voters and are some of the key factors in voter turnout.
Convenience and comfort is the reason why Election Day, as a whole, is flawed. It’s far too busy, and too risky if an error should come up in your registration upon arrival. We’re seeing it right now in Georgia, with the purging of tens of thousands of voters simply because of registration typos or relative inactivity. While this problem would still exist with or without early voting, this purge early on in the voting period at least allows more time for those affected to find some way to fix their registration or potentially protest the decision.
The United States Election Project lists the 2016 presidential election early voter turnout at just over 47 million. That number seems high until before considering that the total voter turnout was over 135 million. This means that only about one third of voters got the luxury of having more than a week, in some cases, to vote at their own leisure, while everyone else showed up simultaneously on what I’m sure was a crowded and uncomfortable Election Day.
In both previous elections and these upcoming ones, many people had to choose between their rights or their wages; go to vote, or go to work. This is a completely unfair decision to force voters to decide, and early voting, or absentee voting in certain cases, is often people’s best and only chance to make a change.
The difference between the voting periods may have a major impact on turnout. But our country’s continued reliance on an outdated, ineffective attitude of “do it all on the last day” that should usually be reserved for high school and college students means that the less stressful early voting period is viewed as the “quirky alternative” while the majority still prefer to go to a pointlessly hectic 12 or so hours. Unless the controversial proposal of an Election Day holiday is ever implemented, beating the crowd with early voting is still your best choice.
Additionally, while the time to register to vote in North Carolina has sadly passed, those that have registered, or simply need to change some details as I did, can find early voting sites here.