Early voting and the rise in absentee ballots may be fueling the rancor in the exploding politicking as we get closer to the actual Election Day, Nov. 6. Let me explain my reasoning.
While it is true that we don’t know who the absentee voter is choosing until all ballots are counted, we know the party in which the absentee voter is enrolled and that voter’s district.
Therefore, if a particular party is down in the numbers of votes cast in their party, they can ramp up the negative ads alleging all kinds of misdeeds committed by their opponents to fire up their base. Next, their opponents will ramp up their rhetoric. This one-up attitude continues until Election Day, Nov. 6!
I’m not a historian, but I thought absentee ballots were used by individuals physically unable to get to the polls on Election Day, Nov. 6. Maybe they’ll be out of the country, are in some way incapacitated, etc. Apparently, in today’s world the major reason seems to be “I don’t want to wait in long lines!”
Finally, I learned one other reason why voting early isn’t a good idea. If you vote early for a candidate who decides to drop out of the race at the eleventh hour, then your vote is meaningless. You can’t take it back and vote again.
Please don’t forget to vote on Nov. 6!
Steven C. Pomelow
Gorham
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