Voting is tough in the United States, and the Syracuse Common Council recently showed support for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s initiative to implement a 12-day early voting period to make it more accessible. But this initiative should be taken with caution.

Cuomo’s initiative “to make it easier for New Yorkers to vote” requires every county in New York state to grant residents access to at least one early voting poll site in the 12 days before Election Day, according to a press release from the governor’s office. The Syracuse city council voted on March 12 in support of the legislation “to enhance the ability of City of Syracuse voters to actively participate in the electoral process,” according to minutes from the March 12 meeting.

While it’s fair for Cuomo and others to think longer voting periods may boost the number of people going to the polls, it’s important to remember that early voting isn’t the catch-all solution for voter turnout. And it may also come at a cost to voters’ decision-making abilities.

Shana Gadarian, an associate professor of political science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said early voting is a tool that will largely help engaged voting demographics — not attract new voting demographics.

“We are just making it more convenient,” Gadarian said. “It’s not necessarily the case that we are lowering all those other barriers that we have for people, like information and the need to register … Those barriers don’t go away just because we’ve increased the number of days that people can vote.”

The numbers suggest early voting doesn’t do much — if anything — for actual voter turnout. As people have tended to vote early in recent elections, the voter turnout hasn’t noticeably changed, with the only notable difference being reduced waiting times. And in some cases, turnout has even dipped, with the 2016 presidential elections seeing a 20-year low in numbers, per CNN. Voting early is convenient, but its effects on civic engagement are little to none.

And in some ways, we’re giving up time. Election cycles last for months, concluding on Election Day. But with the advent of early voting, the cycle can end much sooner, leading to greater chances of voter remorse. While many voters decide on their candidate well in advance, earlier isn’t always better.

Take Montana, for instance, where Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.), was running for a House seat in 2017 when a scandal emerged a day before the election. Gianforte was charged with a misdemeanor for bodyslamming a reporter, according to The Guardian. In any normal voting circumstances, this likely would’ve cost Gianforte the election. But with two-thirds of ballots already casted through early voting, Gianforte went on to win.

The Montana special election was an extreme case for early voting, but it proves things can happen during the early voting period that could warrant voters to consider switching candidates. Some states — including Minnesota, New Jersey, South Dakota and Vermont — even allow voting 45 days or more ahead of Election Day. These early voting periods mean residents in those states could have cast their ballots before any of the presidential debates in 2016. And early voting also comes at a cost. The 2019 New York Executive Budget includes about $7 million for early voting, according to a release from Cuomo’s office.

Early voting may not be the best tactic to increase voter turnout, but there are other possible methods. Increasing the number of polling booths and their accessibility to voters would alleviate some of the burdens that come with in-person voting. Naming Election Day a nationally recognized holiday would make it so voters don’t have to cram their voting time into their work schedule.

These methods may come at a cost to convenience, but they are tangible. Yes, mobilizing every voter to the polls in the middle of a work week is hard. But if early voting does little to help bring more people to the polls, maybe the government’s focus should be directed at the other obstacles leading up to Election Day, not just the day itself.

Daniel Loftus is a freshman broadcast and digital journalism major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at dploftus@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @danielploftus.

Published on April 2, 2018 at 8:11 pm