Early Voting Forces Campaigns to Adjust

Many Ohio residents have already cast their vote in the 2008 election, and they’re not alone. Early voting has become a huge and controversial phenomenon, the Washington Post reports, with 31 states allowing no-excuse absentee balloting. Experts predict a third of this year’s votes will be cast early. That’s forcing campaigns to change their strategies and, in states like Ohio, sparking legal challenges.

Both campaigns have been mobilizing their volunteers in Ohio, with Obama even running an ad targeting early voters. “As soon as the window opens, you have to move,” said one Clinton strategist; any other strategy is “antiquated.” But early voting has its downsides, most notably that mail-in ballots make it much easier for fraudsters to vote early and often. (More Election 2008 stories.)