Early voting; I know there are differing opinions out there, good vs. bad.

[babylonsister]

Could the tallying at the end of the day that is sent to respective parties influence anyone with the ability and will to hack? This gives the parties the numbers to know what areas aren't polling positively for them.
Also, why do some states have it and others don't?
Just some random questions after speaking to a friend who thinks it's a bad idea. Of course, she shares this after I voted today.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

1. early voting, the bad part of it

in NC, the early votes aren't counted until election day.

Your vote is a conditional one, and can be removed for cause.

You are in effect absentee voting, but doing it in person.

Your ballot is tied to your identity, and can be tracked.

Most of NC's voting screwups in 2004 were during early voting, because
of capacity issues on the machines.

Early voting puts more of our eggs in fewer baskets, which increases
risk IMHO.

Read more here, including what two different NC election
officials had to say:
http://www.ncvoter.net/earlyvoting.html

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

2. thanks for posing this question. Our early voting in Denver started today.

I'm ambivalent about it and would love to hear the pros and cons. MKJ

[sandnsea]

3. We don't tally until election day

We got our ballots last week-end. All we're able to do is target people who haven't returned their ballots. I would be surprised if any state actually counted votes before the election, I think that's illegal. I suppose you could map out areas that lean one way or the other and maybe hack areas that aren't having the turnout that they normally do or something. But people keep daily records so they couldn't just switch the numbers without somebody knowing.

[babylonsister]

4. I was told at a

training session that the headquarters/parties got the tallies at the end of the day during early voting of how the voting went.

[diva77]

5. Early voting - whether it's good or bad depends on what's being

done in your county. Here is a case where early voting is a baaaad idea:

post #1 at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[orpupilofnature57]

6. Paper, levers ,whatever it takes, three day's of counting ? anything to ensure *

doesn't happen again.

[elocs]

7. You have to decide for yourself.

For everyone who claims it is a bad idea there are those who are equally convinced it is a good idea. Personally, I like the thrill of going to the polls and actually casting my vote. I am confident in the accurate casting and counting of my vote. As an aside, I once had a Democratic state senator by the name of Paul Offner. His campaign slogan was, "Vote once, vote Offner".