commentaries

First of all, I'm a big believer in the 'Keep It Simple' principle. Adding Early Voting to the process, along with the previous changes of No Excuse Absentee Balots and Same Day Voter Registration makes for a rather complex election process with too many points of failure. What's more, all of these options make the process of election monitoring more difficult, and will likely lead to even more recounts and court challenges as a result. And let's be honest here... The likely reason that Democrats want early voting is that it would give them more time to locate and bring to the polls people who couldn't be bothered to do so on their own. While most everyone has the right to vote, it is also a great responsibility. If some people find it too inconvienient to make the time and effort to do their civic duty then I would prefer they not vote at all.

WHY? The first Tuesday of November has worked for 100 years

More benefits--(1) "October surprises" will too late to be effective; (2) organization and get out the vote efforts will trump billionaires' huge contributions; (3) early voting may discourage the flood of last-minute tv ads....

Amen. Do it. We need it.

I voted at 8:00AM on election day.I waited about 5 minutes.I live in a Twin Cities suburb.Minnesota is not Florida.Minnesota does have adequate places for people to vote.I found the election judges knew their duties and did them well.Vote at off peak hours if you can.Voting is both a right and a civic duty.We are a nation that will stand in line to go through security at an airport but wants early voting.Minnesota's voting system is not broken.Get the work that needs to done Ms Sieben done.The Republicans pushed voter ID and some of them are out of a job.

xenonimus: "And let's be honest here... The likely reason that Democrats want early voting is that it would give them more time to locate and bring to the polls people who couldn't be bothered to do so on their own." So where's the honesty? Everyone benefits from being able to vote. A few extra days would be a blessing for those who work two or more jobs, have transportation issues or have young children at home. Your pretending that this an tool just for Democratic voters is disingenuous. Democrats got to the polls just fine this year, as the GOP is just now discovering.

ivehadit - Employers are required to give you time to vote and if you can't arrange for transportation or find a babysitter well in advance of election day you probably shouldn't be voting anyway.

How about election day being a national holiday - plenty of time to arrange to have enough time to vote.

Our voting process badly needs to be reformed and modernized. Absentee or early voting are not the problem areas or solutions to improving the integrity of the process.

I like the idea of early voting. I had to leave the state early and was forced to vote via absentee ballot. I would have preferred to vote early at an open voting place. 48 hours early voting perion would have helped alot. If 32 other states can have this why can't Minnesota? This process could bring our already high voting record even higher and that is the American way. To our Democratic leaders - Let's get this done.