I don't want to rehash the recent elections but I do want to address an issue that took center-stage. That issue is the question of early voting. And let me say here and now - I have never been an advocate and will probably never favor a process that is so ripe for abuse as is the issue of early voting.
To my great pleasure, a Missouri House committee charged with investigating early voting has declined to bring the subject before the Legislature in the session that begins in January. The group first wants to study the costs - which could run into the millions - and the impact on county election officials if early voting were permitted.
The argument behind early voting is shallow at best. Those who favor early voting would allow registered voters to cast their ballot weeks in advance of election day. Their primary argument is that the process would be more convenient for voters. But that's also my argument against the process. Voting should not be made more convenient. Absentee voting is already allowed for those unable to vote on election day for whatever circumstance. And part of our civic duty should be to become informed on the candidates and issues and then to cast a ballot on that one special day set aside to decide the fate of our nation.
Here's what would happen. Labor unions and special interest groups would hand deliver voters to the precincts in the early voting period to cast their ballot. But that means elections would be decided by which side could mobilize the most people. It reminds me of the days when groups were rounded-up, given a pint of whiskey and taken to the polls with written instructions on how to vote. Don't imagine for one minute that the very same process would not be repeated under early voting.
I've said before that if I had my way, voting would be more rigid, not simplified. I know you can't demand some minimal level of understanding to allow someone to vote, but by golly, I'd come real close to advocating that process. Uninformed voters make bad decisions and the result is bad government.
We have a national day of election in this country when all of the debate and all of the issues are finally decided. We dilute that process when we allow early voting. And a diluted electorate is not appealing.
Taken to the extreme, let's go ahead and allow voting for the 2008 presidential election right now. Experts tell us that about 40 per cent of voters will vote Democratic regardless of any other issue and that 40 per cent will vote Republican for the same reasons. So let's go ahead and get it out of the way. Then come election cycle 2008, you're just talking about a handful of voters. Now that would be convenient. But it would also be a disaster.
And in my mind, so would early voting.