Early voting in the 2004 presidential election

Abstract

The addition of early voting laws has led to the many changes in the US political system. In this dissertation I examine early voting early voting in a number of different contexts. First, how early voting fits in with the larger issue of voter turnout in the U.S. Second, why some states have early voting policies and other states choose to not have those policies. Third, how state-level political parties view the option to cast an early vote. Fourth, the differences between early voters, election day voters, and non-voters. Fifth, what are the determents of casting an early ballot. Sixth, do early voting laws lead to more electoral participation. My findings suggest that early voting does not significantly change the way in which state-level political parties get people to the polls, early voters are different from election day voters, and that early voting policies significantly increase overall participation by 2% points. Early voting changes the way citizens participate in elections and this dissertation provides an early view of how this new mode of participation changes the political behavior in different electoral area.