Early Voters Transform Campaign Landscape

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arly Voters Transform Campaign Landscape

38 minutes ago


By ROBERT TANNER, AP National Writer

In an election year when just a few thousand votes in a few states could decide the winner, the growing number of voters who cast ballots weeks before Election Day is transforming the landscape for political campaigns.
Thirty-two states now offer some form of early voting, giving campaigns a chance to lock down hundreds of thousands of ballots long before Nov. 2, and focus more intensely on undecided voters in the final days before polls close.
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The trend has been steadily increasing. Somewhere between 15 percent and 20 percent of all voters nationwide cast their ballots early, and that number is expected to rise to 25 percent this year, according to Curtis Gans at the Washington-based Committee for the Study of the American Electorate.

Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina and North Dakota all expanded or began early voting since the last presidential election.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=718&e=9&u=/ap/20040912/ap_on_el_pr/early_voting