Monday, November 03, 2008

States Most Vulnerable to Election Day Problems

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There are a number of states out there which do not have aggressive early vote and vote-by-mail programs. As you all well know by now, the participation rate has been extremely high during this early period. We're likely to see lots of log jams in states that do not have easy access to early vote methods.


Here is a link to states and weather or not they easily allow voters to participate prior to election day (i.e. "no excuse" equates to easier access than "excuse required").

There are about a dozen states which could see problems, and about half of those have had enough problems in recent years to warrant keeping an eye on. The following is a list of states which either do not have aggressive early vote or vote-by-mail programs - or they are "excuse required" to cast ballots using such methods. Because we are seeing a lot of heightened activity due to the nature of the election in these areas, these lists particularly come to mind because they are seeing heated contests in the race for President, Governor, Senate and Congress:

Indiana
Kentucky
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Virginia

States also falling into the "excuse required" categories are: Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island and South Carolina.