When I went to vote, I was confronted with this petitioner at my polling precinct. A percentage of people will sign petitions just because they are being amenable and can’t think of a reason not to do so.

I didn’t sign his petition, but I did take his picture. The point is that some people will vote “yes” for whatever is on the ballot just because they figure if someone wants it bad enough to ask, they might as well just give it to him.

The greatest harm caused by early voting is that a percentage of voters will be pressured to vote for a person or a law whom they might otherwise not choose. When people show up to vote without knowledge of what they are doing or without enough self-motivation to go without prodding, you can be sure that others outside the system are manipulating the process. In some states that have early voting, organizations have loaded up buses to transport people from their work places to go vote. Many of these are voting under compulsion and would otherwise lack the intrinsic motivation to exert the effort.

On your November ballot, you will see a question of whether we should have early voting. At first glance, most will think this is a matter of convenience, but it is far more devious than that. It has the potential to destroy the honor of our system and will allow the winning side to be determined by who can bus-in and arm-twist the most uninformed voters.