Changes

=== Early Voting ===

=== Early Voting ===

Historically, voters who could not vote on Election Day could cast an absentee ballot well prior to the election, and some military and overseas voters receive ballots for elections nearly two months before Election Day.  In the last 15 years, "early voting" has become legal and popular in many areas of the Nation.  In some States, most of the voting is done by voters at their convenience prior to Election Day (i.e., prior to the Tuesday after the first Monday in November).  In Ohio in 2012, there was 35 days of early voting during which far more than a million votes were cast.  By the time of Election Day, the outcome in Ohio may have been already a foregone conclusion (but one that would not have been known by voters), and the votes on Election Day probably did not change the result.  Is this what the Framers had in mind?  Doug Preisse, a Republican member of Franklin County's election board, described early voting as "contort[ing] the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout machine." Matt Huffman, a Republican member of Ohio's legislature, referring to the practice in African-American churches of driving voters to the polls following church on Sunday, stated, "There's that group of people who say, 'I'm only voting if someone drives me down after church on Sunday.' ... Really? Is that the person we need to cater to when we're making public policy about elections?"

Historically, voters who could not vote on Election Day could cast an absentee ballot well prior to the election, and some military and overseas voters receive ballots for elections nearly two months before Election Day.  In the last 15 years, "early voting" has become legal and popular in many areas of the Nation.  In some States, most of the voting is done by voters at their convenience prior to Election Day (i.e., prior to the Tuesday after the first Monday in November).  In Ohio in 2012, there was 35 days of early voting during which far more than a million votes were cast.  By the time of Election Day, the outcome in Ohio may have been already a foregone conclusion, and known to anyone who analyzed the voting patterns of who voted early.  Then the votes on Election Day probably did not change the result.  Is this what the Framers had in mind, an election won before Election Day?  

Ohio shortened its early voting from 35 days to 28 days for the election this year, in 2014.  Democrats, feeling that a shorting of early voting was disadvantageous to their side, sued to preserve the 35 days of early voting.  A district judge reinstated 35 days of early voting, and an appellate panel of 3 Democrat-appointed judges affirmed in a decision rendered just prior to the beginning of the period.  The panel upheld the district court's decision that, under the particular circumstances of Ohio, the reduction of early voting periods that African-Americans had come to rely upon violated Section 2 of the [[Voting Rights Act]].

Ohio shortened its early voting from 35 days to 28 days for the election this year, in 2014.  Democrats, feeling that a shorting of early voting was disadvantageous to their side, sued to preserve the 35 days of early voting.  A district judge reinstated 35 days of early voting, and an appellate panel of 3 Democrat-appointed judges affirmed in a decision rendered just prior to the beginning of the period.  The panel upheld the district court's decision that, under the particular circumstances of Ohio, the reduction of early voting periods that African-Americans had come to rely upon violated Section 2 of the [[Voting Rights Act]].

In North Carolina, the court rejected a request by challengers to block for the November 2014 election portions of a law passed in 2013 that, among other things, limited the number of days of early voting (while guaranteeing the same number of hours of early voting as there were in 2010).  The Court of Appeals held that, even if the challengers could show they were likely to succeed on their challenges, it was too late to reinstate early voting for the November 2014 election.

In North Carolina, the court rejected a request by challengers to block for the November 2014 election portions of a law passed in 2013 that, among other things, limited the number of days of early voting (while guaranteeing the same number of hours of early voting as there were in 2010).  The Court of Appeals held that, even if the challengers could show they were likely to succeed on their challenges, it was too late to reinstate early voting for the November 2014 election.

While an average person might support the concept of early voting for the convenience of the voter, not everything that "sounds good" is really good after also.  The more early voting there is, the less significant Election Day itself is.  Some studies show that early voting actually reduces overall "turnout" by voters (the percentage of people who are eligible to vote who then actually do vote).  The reduction in voter turnout is probably due to the loss in focus on Election Day.

While an average person might support the concept of early voting for the convenience of the voter, not everything that "sounds good" is really good after also.  The more early voting there is, the less significant Election Day itself is.  Some studies show that early voting actually reduces overall "turnout" by voters (the percentage of people who are eligible to vote who then actually do vote).  The reduction in voter turnout is probably due to the loss in focus on Election Day. Fewer people would be interested in the Super Bowl also if it occurred over many days, rather than one evening.

 

== Executive Privilege ==

== Executive Privilege ==