Is Rolling Polling the right way to vote?

By Bill Sullivan

As Americans head to the polls today, much of the news coverage is focused on turnout. Inevitably the numbers will disappoint, at least in comparison with a presidential election year.

But what does “turning out” even mean?

Political analysts estimate that more than a quarter of the votes in the 2014 election will be cast in early voting, via absentee or mail-in ballots.

The major parties love early voting. If they can get their strongest supporters to vote early, then they can concentrate their resources on getting elusive swing voters to the polls on Election Day.

But it’s unclear whether early voting has really had much of an impact on turnout. Citizens who are engaged — and who want to vote — mostly manage to vote one way or another. And tomorrow we are likely to hear the usual litany about apathy, polarization and disengagement.

Is it possible that convenience separates Americans on a day that should unite us?

Way Back When

In 18^th-century Virginia, turning out typically meant showing up at the county courthouse on Election Day. If the weather was favorable, the vote could even take place outside.

The sheriff supervised the balloting, sharing the table with other county officials. The sheriff opened the voting in the morning by stating the purpose of the election.

The men—and in that day the voters were white male property owners—stepped forward individually to declare their support for a candidate.

A clerk recorded the votes of the freeholders on paper, listing the names of the voters under their preferred candidate. It was easy to see who was winning at any given time, giving competitive elections the excitement of a horse race.

Candidates often attended in person, thanking individual freeholders after receiving their votes. John Clopton, a congressman who unsuccessfully defended his seat against future chief justice John Marshall in 1799, thanked one voter by saying: “Mr. Buchanan, I shall treasure that vote in my memory. It will be regarded as a feather in my cap for ever.”

There are plenty of things to dislike about the 18^th-century method of electing representatives. The electorate was a fraction of the citizenry. There was no secret ballot. The waiting around would be unacceptable today.

But maybe there is something to miss, too.

I Voted! (3 weeks ago)

Election Day was a public event, at times a spectacle. It was conducted in full view of the community. It took the temperature of the electorate at a discrete moment in time.

In short, it was the very enactment of democracy.

We need our civic rituals. We need to have places we go as a people to celebrate our experiment in self-government. Memorial Day parades. Fourth of July fireworks. Flags displayed in our neighborhoods on Veterans Day.

And yes, Election Day.

Should it be a national holiday? I’m not sure. But I do kind of wish that Election Day was more a snapshot of where we stand and a little less a rolling opinion poll taken over the course of a month or more.

I have nothing against technology or efficiency, but “Election Month” just doesn’t have the same ring.

That little “I voted” sticker matters. When we walk into the office or the grocery store bearing that simple mark of citizenship, it means something.

We are declaring ourselves as investors in our democracy and we are brought together in a common bond when we see our fellow citizens going about their business with it.

And for a little while, until the results separate us as victors and vanquished, we are all just citizens.