The US Presidential election campaign has been going on for what seems like an eternity. In many ways the US election result could more impact on the future of Australians than the Australian election result, so I suppose its good they give voters lots of time to think about it. Polling day is now less than four weeks away, but voters in a growing number of states are already able to cast their vote.
Among the many idiosyncracies of the process used to elect the President of the USA is the fact that each state has different laws governing the process, which means there is a wide variation in different parts of the country on things like who is eligible to vote, how they vote and when they vote. And of course the whole process in each state is overseen by politically partisan officials.
This site shows the wide variations in the laws of each state regarding early and absentee voting. It states that 31 states allow no-excuse pre-Election Day in-person voting – either early voting on a voting machine or in-person absentee voting; 4 states and the District of Columbia require an excuse for in-person absentee voting and 16 states do not allow early or in-person absentee voting.
In 1 state (Oregon) all voting is by mail.
One Comment
I understand states rights arguments, but certain laws should remain distinctly within the power of a national government, one of those being the power to make laws in relation to national elections.
I presume it’s something in the constitution that stops them from making such laws, but really there is no reason to preserve such a system which acts to cast doubt or increase doubt in the integrity of elections and election outcomes.