{"id":13154,"date":"2016-06-21T17:48:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T17:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/articles\/triumphs-and-challenges-for-early-voting\/"},"modified":"2016-06-21T17:48:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T17:48:00","slug":"triumphs-and-challenges-for-early-voting","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/fr\/articles\/triumphs-and-challenges-for-early-voting\/","title":{"rendered":"Triumphs and Challenges for Early Voting"},"template":"","class_list":["post-13154","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry","article_type-blog-post"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"You’re a US citizen, you’re 18 years old or older, you’re registered and ready to vote. But what if November comes around and you have work or class on Election Day? What if you can’t wait hours in the long lines you’ve found at your precinct in the past?","featured_image":null,"article_type":1103,"authors":["{\"site_id\":\"1\",\"post_type\":\"person\",\"post_id\":13152}","{\"site_id\":\"1\",\"post_type\":\"person\",\"post_id\":9060}"],"related_issues":[167,169,2066],"related_work":false,"location":null},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

You’re a US citizen, you’re 18 years old or older, you’re registered and ready to vote. But what if November comes around and you have work or class on Election Day? What if you can’t wait hours in the long lines you’ve found at your precinct in the past?<\/p>

There is hope, because all but 13 states<\/a> allow for some form of early voting. Encouraged by groups like Common Cause and the League for Women Voters, states including Maryland, Illinois, and Massachusetts have even expanded early voting<\/a> in recent years, with Maryland also allowing voters to register and vote simultaneously.<\/p>

Six other states however, have moved to reduce early voting for 2016. The moves by Nebraska, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia are part of a larger  legislative movement<\/a> to restrict voting for the 2016 election.<\/p>

Early voting opportunities are critical to protecting and strengthening voter rights. Many voters, particularly those with lower incomes or limited mobility, simply cannot make it to the polls on Election Day. Because the day is not a national holiday and doesn’t fall on the weekend, they cannot afford to take off work, particularly if voting involves waiting hours in lines.<\/p>

The Brennan Center for Justice identifies<\/a> five additional benefits to early in-person voting:<\/p>