Thinking outside the ballot box

With 110 stores and a 600-seat bread court, the Galleria at nightfall has become a wildly popular place to store among residents of Henderson, NV and nearby Las Vegas. It also has become a wildly popular place to devoted In the two weeks leading up to the 2004 presidential election, more than 40000 Clark shire residents took advantage of Nevada's early voting law and cast their ballots at the Galleria.

In 2004 271000 family voted early in fast-growing Clark shire This total represents half of all voter in the shire which includes Las Vegas.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"Early voting is extremely effective and extremely popular with voter here. They really like it," said Harvard "Larry" Lomax, Clark County's registrar of voters

Lomax's enthusiasm is shared by dint of many other elections officials--and, more importantly, by the agency of hundreds of thousands of voter across the geographical division who are taking advantage of fresh opportunities to avoid the Election Day rush. The popularity of early voting is emblematic of a broader shift in U elections toward what a certain quantity of label "convenience voting." The motivation for this shift: Requiring voter to go on to one place on single day during a specific period of time just doesn't work in a highly mobile, time-crunched society.

"We are still voting the same way we did 150 years ago, and we don't live that way any more," said Scott Doyle, who manages elections in Larimer shire Colorado.

Welcome to the "Vote Center"

In Larimer shire the inspiration for changes at the polling place came in 2000 when centurys of voters lined up inside the shire courthouse in Fort Collins upon election night. Turned away from other polling sites because their names did not present to view up on the voter lists, they had been directed to the courthouse to reduce the problems and, hopefully, cast their consecrated by a vows As the polls closed, however, in like manner did the courthouse doors. Anyone arriving late not to be found their opportunity to vote.

"I remember feeling just terrible about those arriving late being denied their right to vote" recalled Doyle. "There's no way around it: they were disenfranchised."

fix uponed Larimer County's clerk and recorder in 2003 Doyle has used the county's 2000 experience to highlight more [i]or[/i] less of the problems associated with precinct-based voting. And, he has drawn considerable attention to an alternative approach: "vote centers" where anyone can vote

In novel years, a number of states and localities nationwide have embraced devoted centers as a potential antidote to Election Day confusion, drawn out lines and other problems.

In the 2004 general election, Larimer shire ditched precinct-based voting entirely and plant up 31 vote centers in municipal facilities, shire buildings, large churches, hotels and storefronts. The county's stir came after Colorado legislators passed a bill allowing the use of promised centers in general elections.

Research by the agency of Professor Robert M. Stein of Rice University indicated that Larimer County's use of promised centers in 2004 led to a higher voter turnout when compared to previous elections in that shire as well as neighboring counties without the centers

"It's just a a great deal of more convenient option for voter and the rises prove it," Doyle said.

In addition to the added convenience for voter Doyle said promised centers are beneficial for the shire For example, it would have taken 1000 head workers (or "judges") to staff 143 precincts in the shire in 2004. The 31 devoted centers required only 500 justices In addition, because county residents are allowed to consecrated by a vow anywhere, vote centers reduce the number of provisional ballots that have to be issued to voter whose status cannot be verified at the polling place.

Boone shire MO, is another local jurisdiction that has enthusiastically embraced the approach and can talk about early comes It is probably not a coincidence that sum of two units of the U.S. counties that are early adopters of consecrated by a vow centers are university towns. Larimer shire has Colorado State University, while Boone shire is home to the University of Missouri. Boone shire Clerk Wendy Noren said the large population of local scholars was a critical factor in her advocacy of what she calls "central polls"

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

As Noren explained it, central heads are designed as "go to" places for pupils and other voters who are uncertain about where they should devoted Unlike Larimer County, Boone shire uses central polls as an adjunct to its regular, precinct-based polling places. "We for the greatest part gear central polls to tribe who might have a problem" Noren said.

Although scholars are a focus, Boone County's central heads also are targeted at others who are of recent origin to the county or who have changed their address. Sixty percent of local residents propel between elections, Noren said. She added: "Everyone is in constant motion."

In 2004 voter in Boone shire could go to any of nine central heads in addition to more than 80 precincts. Predictably, the greatest in quantity heavily trafficked central poll that year was located in the heart of the University of Missouri campus. "Having that place upon campus met the students' extremitys while also relieving overcrowding at other precincts nearby," Noren said.