“Those who expect to reap the benefits of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”

Thomas Paine

 

The report Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence’s charter plane ran off the runway at LaGuardia raises the spector of the death or incapacitating medical problem happening to a presidential candidate or their running mate in the two months prior to an election; potentially rendering all “early votes” for them wasted.

With the growing volume of information being disseminated by WikiLeaks and other entities during the final weeks before presidential elections, it is possible that material facts not previously known could give early voters, other than hardcore Democrats and Republicans, pause to wish they had voted differently.

With the exception of four states, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania (the latter two for absentee voters only) early voters get a “do over”.

Today, there are two types of “early” voting.

Absentee Voting” arose from the great number of Union soldiers unable to vote during the Civil War, so provisions were made to allow military personnel to vote absentee.  This right was extended to include persons who (a) will be unavoidably absent from polling site on election day, (b) will be unable to attend the polling site on election day due to illness or physical disability and (c) are a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, Merchant Marines or the spouse or a dependent family member.

In recent times, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 and the Military and Overseas Voting Empowerment Act of 2009 allow members of the U.S. Armed Forces and overseas voters to both register to vote by mail and require states to provide electronic access to various parts of the election process, mail absentee ballots to certain voters at least 45 days before an election, and develop a free access system to inform military and overseas voters about whether their voted ballots were received and counted.

Using the stated goal of increasing voter participation and diversity and relieving congestion at polling stations on Election Day as justification, “Early Voting” is authorized in 37 states and the District of Columbia, including three utilizing all-mail voting systems.

Yet, the Constitution (Article II, Section 1) is quite clear; “Congress shall determine the Time of choosing the Electors [for President] and the Day on which they shall give their votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

In 1792, Congress enacted legislation making the first Wednesday in December as the day on which presidential Electors were to assemble and vote, and further required that the States appoint Electors within 34 days prior to the date set for the Electors to vote.   In 1845, Congress enacted legislation providing a uniform date for the choice of Electors in all states, establishing Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November of the year in which they are to be appointed.”

As apparently Congress, and only Congress, can establish the date for voting for Electors, who in turn actually vote for the president, is it conceivable that all of the “early voting” ballots are both unconstitutional and therefore possibly irrelevant?

Despite the unambiguous language in the Constitution and subsequent Congressional action, some District judges have ruled against limiting voting to Election Day.  However noble their intentions, substituting convenience and social engineering for adherence to the law is inexcusable.

In a country that purports have the world’s most open republic form of a democracy, voter turnout in presidential election years remains abysmal and even worse during off-year elections.  Peaking at 81.8% of the voting age population 1876, that figure has not risen above 60% since the 1968 election.

Such lack of participation brings to mind Benjamin Franklin’s response when he was queried by a lady as he left Independence Hall at the close of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, “Well Doctor what have we got, a republic or a monarchy.”  Franklin replied, “A republic . . . if you can keep it.

It is good to remember, Freedom and Liberty are not free, they require commitment and often inconvenience.