As reported previously on this blog, Ohio this year undertook one of the most aggressive no-excuse absentee efforts ever: it mailed a no-excuse absentee ballot application to every registered voter in the state.
Nonetheless, Ohioans still experience early-in person and Election Day lines of two to four hours.
The lesson is clear: no excuse absentee voting by mail by itself is not a cure for long lines at the polling place. An overall solution to the capacity issue includes increased early in-person voting, on the days that voters want to vote early, and smoothly functioning precinct place voting for those citizens who desire to wait until Election Day.
My contribution along with some really smart company:
Here’s the link again. A lot fewer points because a lot fewer respondents. The Democratic advantage among respondents who say they have already voted is pretty large.
If I did this right using the Ipsos/Reuters “American Mosaic” site, the graphic below shows early voter preferences over the past week. I selected on “registered voters” and “voted in 2012” for the display.
This corresponds pretty well to te trends in support reported by Nate Silver, Real Clear Politics, and others.
Dan Smith, my colleague at University of Florida, provides this useful guide.
Hat tip to Stateline. http://www.pewstates.org/projects/stateline/headlines/after-election-day-confusion-hawaii-gov-pushes-full-mail-in-voting-85899432298