Making people only vote on election day doesn’t make it special, it just adds to a Tuesday to do list. Candidates that are worth a crap make election day special, and apparently we don’t get those anymore.
The thing I really enjoy about early voting is the bills. I can look them up on the web and make my decision and put that decision right on the ballot. I used to write try to remember them, then I remembered I’m no good at that and started writing them down, but I always felt I was cribbing for a test.
I don’t think the old system really did work for over 200 years. For most of our history our level of voter turn out has been lower than other participatory governments. And those other places that have much higher turn out have generally made voting convenient, more than one day, often on weekends.
“I don’t think the old system really did work for over 200 years. For most of our history our level of voter turn out has been lower than other participatory governments.”
I wonder if we can see what the participation rate was before and after the institution of the secret ballot?