How to Vote

I'm going to cut right to the chase here: with few exceptions there should only be voting, and also with few exceptions only in person voting, on the actual election day. Period. Why?

Well, first and foremost, that's the whole point of elections: what does the country think at this moment. Too many things can happen two and three weeks ahead which might affect your vote, things which indeed might require you to vote differently. That process is short circuited by early voting. Unless you have no intention of altering your ballot no matter what, that is. I will suggest that such an attitude is far too partisan.

There's less time for shenanigans if nearly all the votes must come in on one day. While I do not believe the 2020 Election stolen (nor the 2016, Hillary, I for one have not forgotten what you said) it's a lot harder to rig anything on the spur of the moment. So yes, I am arguing elections are more likely to be fair under single day voting.

What I'm going to say next will likely offend some, but I don't care. Certain things need to be said if for no other reason so that we might fully understand the entire issue. 

By and large, early and absentee voting is for the lazy voter. Okay, I'll vote if you mail me a ballot. I'll vote if I don't have to stand in line too long. Well, if that's all the vote means to you, I'm not sure you merit it. The attitude 'I'll do it if it's easy' smacks of an actual lack of respect for the ballot box, not a wider appreciation of it. If it isn't important enough that it should be done even with a bit of inconvenience, well, I think that speaks for itself.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I realize that many people who vote early or absentee do it simply because it's offered to them, and that those folks would have voted just the same.  I understand that those who would ordinarily vote anyway are not in the category of lazy voters, and I am not disparaging them. Yet when we averaged 120-130 million votes every four years from 2000 to 2016 then jump to 156 million in 2020, an election with widespread absentee and early voting, well, surely the majority of those extra 25 million or so ballots came from truly lazy voters. On both sides of the aisle, I will add, because even Trump's vote total jumped dramatically.

Be that as it may, if you can vote on Election Day, you should. That's how it's supposed to be.

Rant over.