Early Voting - can it be taken back?

With all of this early voting going on, and Obama frantically pushing for his supporters to vote ASAP, what happens if someone who has already voted wants to change their vote?

I know that there were some from the Obama campaign that voted illegally in Ohio and requested that their votes be withdrawn (which they were) but could any Joe Shmoe do that?

IF there is a major October surprise and it's something so horrible that it basically disqualifies one candidate, could people change their vote?

If you cannot change your early vote, do you think people should be allowed to in the future?

Jemison

reply to post by Jemison


I don't understand the premise of early voting. It seems to me that it only opens the door for one side or the other to cry foul. It's just one more wrench in the works.

For the record, I don't think you should be able to rescind your vote unless it involves a technicality or illegality.

Vote early and vote often I always say.

I'm not sure what difference it makes as one might have this sentiment after November 4th anyway.

reply to post by Jemison


I disagree with early voteing personally, but where i live you must have your original ballot to turn in in order to get a new one.

You can't change your vote in most states, and in most cases you'll have to be prepared to bring a law suit to have any luck what so ever.

However, this is the United States: The land where everyone - dead or alive, citizen or not, votes early and votes often. If you aren't happy with your vote just go to a precinct and vote again.

reply to post by Jemison


The county that I live in is a "mail-in only" county with the option of turning your ballots in at a collection point Oct. 30th through Nov. 4th.The ballots were mailed out to registered voters on Oct. 16th.

I'm turning mine in to a collection point on Nov. 4th. Anything could happen between now and the 4th. While I'm 99.9% sure of how I will vote, that .1% keeps me from voting until the last day.

I don't think it's possible to take your ballot back once it has been turned in.

There is nothing wrong with early voting as long as nobody knows its unconstitutional.

Oh wait it is.. Now I am pissed... Ohh wait, never mind, its a god damn piece of paper anyway..

brb potty.

No, You can't take back a late vote after the election either. Which is a big problem once your president and the people who back him start blowing things up to justfy their pet projects.


Chew on that while contemplate making others heisitant to act upon their beliefs and judgement.

I don't think you can take your vote back, even if the person that you vote for is disqualified. This is why early voting shouldn't be done and election day should be a national holiday, and on a weekend, so people don't work, so no one has an excuse to not vote.

This has been the longest election campaign in history I beleive. People have had more time to know their Candidate than in any other Presidential Election in history.

Having said that, if someone has not made up their mind they probably never will. Why would anyone need to change their vote unless it was just due to OCD behavior and they will change their mind again the minute the walk out of the booth?

reply to post by Blaine91555


Blaine, I was thinking the exact same thing. At this point, October surprises are off teh books.. now the underdog requires a Novemeber surprise :-)

Those with BUYERS REMORSE are stuck with the purchase they made.

No second chances. Do it right the first time.

Nope. Can't take it back whether you vote early or not.

Originally posted by ThichHeaded
There is nothing wrong with early voting as long as nobody knows its unconstitutional.

Oh wait it is..

Why do you say it's unconstitutional?

It's not.

Article II section.1. paragraph 4 says "the Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors,and the Day on which they shall give their votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States"

Red important, red bold, well self explanatory.

Originally posted by ThichHeaded
"the Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors,and the Day on which they shall give their votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States"

They're talking about Electors (those people from each state who do the Electoral votes) not voters.

The Monday after the second Wednesday in December is the DAY chosen for the electors to vote and make the election official.

I will look into this in a few days and see what I can come up with. But I am sure it was stated it was unconstitutional somewhere.. Just cant place it now..

reply to post by ThichHeaded


In Maryland, it was determined to be against THEIR STATE Constitution.

I don't find anything about an Election Day in the US Constitution, but here's what's in the US Code.

The Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in November, in every even numbered year, is established as the day for the election, in each of the States and Territories of the United States, of Representatives and Delegates to the Congress commencing on the 3d day of January next thereafter.

That's ELECTION day. It doesn't say VOTING cannot take place before that time. Early votes are not official until Election Day.

I did the early vote thing today in FL. They seem to have tightened it up some this year. So (hopefully) we won't have anymore hanging chads.

I'll give you guys a brief run-down of how they are doing it here.

In my fairly small area it was pretty packed. One hour wait. They are open from 7am to 7pm and said its been packed every day and that 1 hour was short compared to peak times. Regardless of which side you are on - I hope you are happy to hear this. I was. I think everybody that is eligable should vote.

They checked my driver's liscense and voter ID against their system (they said they can also do it with just a driver's liscense). Had me sign my name on an electronic pad. (Hardcopy printed). The lady seemed to do a brief check of my sig. against the one on my DL.

Ballot printed out on machine behind her along with some kind of ID sheet indicating I'd gotten one. She kept that and the hardcopy of my sig.

Fill in the ovals of my choce with a provided magic marker.

Walk over and put the ballot into a machine. The machine scans it and says "Accpeted".

Get my sticker, display it proudly on my chest and walk out.

NOTE: I didn't see anyone get a "rejected" while I was there. I think the machine was likely doing a check to see if it could recognze the ovals filled in. There was a worker by the machines. My guess is she was there in case it rejected one.

For those of you interested, I found this interesting site. It is tallying how many people have voted early so far... Hope it's useful


elections.gmu.edu...

Once your vote is cast, you should not be able to change it.

I voted for Ron Paul today in an early vote because I found out yesterday I will be out of town for work all next week.