Is convenience subverting election process?

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Herald Tribune: No one opens a business until sufficient plans have been made.

A pilot won’t take off until the pre-check has been completed.

Surgery doesn’t start until all the tests are confirmed.

In each of these cases, careful preparation and data collection precede the eventual action. That just makes good sense. Once an action is taken, it can’t be undone.

Today’s column is a combination of serious and silly ideas. Serious because the activity described has a profound impact on all of us. Silly because the exaggerations are so broad.

Nationally and locally we’re faced with an activity that has serious consequences. And that activity is made easy and convenient for everyone through changes in a governmental process — the expanding practice of early voting.

This is not a political piece. It’s an exploration piece. Please stay with me.

Election Day — remember when everyone (except those with “good reason”) voted on the same day? Voters marked a piece of paper that other people then read, recorded, and counted.

It was time-consuming, but it worked. Many voters stayed up late that night to find out who won!

 The current official Election Day is still two months away, but many people have already cast their ballots — and many more will do so during the weeks ahead.

That means they are taking action before all the data are in! No one knows what might be discovered about candidates in the next two months. That’s true for both candidates. Read more.