Our View: Vote early only if you're sure you’re ready — or really need to
You ready? You sure? Because a lot can happen between now and Election Day on Nov. 5. A lot of information and plenty of perspectives are to be published and put out there in the next several weeks, each detail and revelation demanding the careful consideration of responsible voters. There are important decisions to be made in this and every election. Deciding on our elected officials isn't something to be done hastily.
Early voting for this fall's election opened Friday (Sept. 20) in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Virginia. Voters in those states are the first in the nation to cast ballots for 2024 races. The early voting includes Duluth, where there are races for the U.S. Senate, the 8th Congressional District, the Minnesota Legislature, the St. Louis County Board, a 6th Judicial District judge position, and a constitutional amendment question.
While voting early is a great convenience and opportunity for those who otherwise maybe wouldn't be able to cast a ballot, the vast majority of eligible Minnesota voters can be very wary of wading in ahead of the actual day set aside for electing. We only get one shot at this. We don't want to vote for a candidate who maybe proves to be, shall we say, less-than-stellar during public scrutiny in the days and weeks leading up to Election Day.
We can keep in mind how in 2019 a Duluth School Board candidate was endorsed ahead of the filing deadline and then decided not to run. A wasted endorsement can be a cautionary reminder not to waste our vote with haste.
Speaking of cautionary reminders, in the 1990 election for Minnesota governor, Republican nominee Jon Gronseth dropped out just nine days ahead of Election Day following allegations of nude swimming with young girls at a pool party at his residence. Also, just 11 days before Election Day in 2002, U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone perished in a plane crash near Eveleth that also killed his wife, daughter, and five others. Anyone voting early those years surely would have wished to have their votes back.
The election this go-round is still 45 very long days away. No one can predict what might happen between now and then. But we do know the unforeseen can dramatically and quickly change the political landscape and the decision-making of voters. Early voters don't get do-overs.
Yes, early voting can help fuel strong voter turnout, not that this year's election, with a hot-as-any-ever presidential tilt, needs any boosting.
And yes, beyond convenience, there are reasons some of us have to cast early ballots. Secretary of State Steve Simon has said he had his father's mobility challenges in mind when he authored Minnesota's early-voting law during his days in the state House.
Further, "In addition to helping people who face barriers or are concerned about getting to their polling place on Election Day, early voting is great for college students attending school away from home who want to vote in their home district, snowbirds leaving for warmer weather before Election Day, and people who work multiple jobs who are not sure of their schedules on (Election Day)," as Minnesota DFL Chairman Ken Martin pointed out in an op-ed in the fall of 2018.
Outside of a few such extreme circumstances, however, there are far better and far more legitimate reasons for waiting — for taking the time that's available to carefully weigh the candidates and issues. A lot can change, and a lot demands to be carefully scrutinized, before eligible voters color in those little eggs on their ballot cards.
Decisions as important as an election should never be rushed or just gotten out of the way.
