Early Voting Reduces Voter Turnout

I don't like early voting and I expressed my opinion on the subject in an earlier post.  Early voting is supposed to make it easier for people to vote so more folks will do it, but an op-ed in the NY Times from a couple of political science professors says the exact opposite is happening:

Early voting ... dilutes the intensity of Election Day. When a large share of votes is cast well in advance of the first Tuesday in November, campaigns begin to scale back their late efforts. The parties run fewer ads and shift workers to more competitive states. Get-out-the-vote efforts in particular become much less efficient when so many people have already voted.

When Election Day is merely the end of a long voting period, it lacks the sort of civic stimulation that used to be provided by local news media coverage and discussion around the water cooler. Fewer co-workers will be sporting “I voted” stickers on their lapels on Election Day. Studies have shown that these informal interactions have a strong effect on turnout, as they generate social pressure. With significant early voting, Election Day can become a kind of afterthought, simply the last day of a drawn-out slog.

I think I've used an absentee ballot once in my life, and I did participate in early voting one time - the 2004 presidential election.  I voted at the mall on the Friday before the election because I knew the crowds on election day would be significant.  Having people vote for 3 or 4 days prior to an election just to relieve crowds is probably not a bad idea, but having people vote weeks ahead of the election simply opens the door to fraud.

Unfortunately, the profs who did the early voting study go off the tracks when they try to offer a solution:

Fortunately, there is a way to improve turnout and keep the convenience of early voting. Our research shows that when early voting is combined with same-day registration — that is, you can register to vote and cast an early ballot on the same day — the depressive effect of early voting disappears.

You think there's fraud now? Just wait until you're allowed to cast a ballot the moment after you register. Given the lax registration requirements already in place we'd have voter fraud on a scale not even imagined if that happened.  The Dems would be busing people from registration site to registration site voting as many times as they could fill out the forms.

I still like the old fashioned idea of going to the polls on Election Day.  There's something about getting together with your neighbors to do your civic duty that's good for all of us.