Today is Election Day, as was yesterday and the day before. Many Americans will vote well before Tuesday, and while the convenience of choosing your day to vote is appealing, convenience should not be the only rule by which we run our elections.

Research Fellow John C. Fortier

In 2004, nearly 25 percent of Americans voted before Election Day, almost 15 percent by absentee ballot and an additional 8 percent at early voting polling places. In 1980, absentee ballots were cast by only 5 percent of voters, and early voting at polling places was nonexistent.

Over the last 25 years, a number of states have moved away from the original idea that absentee ballots should be made available to those who really need it: overseas voters, those too frail to come to the polls, and out-of-town business travelers. Instead, they began to promote absentee ballots as a convenience available to everyone.

The earliest known absentee-ballot law was passed in Pennsylvania in the 1830s, but it was not until the Civil War that states adopted the practice widely to allow soldiers in the field to vote in the 1864 presidential election. In the early 20th century, states began to introduce civilian absentee balloting to accommodate the needs of a more mobile populace.

Early reformers who favored the absentee ballot were concerned about the injustice of denying the vote to those who were not able to come to a local polling place, but they also saw the tension between voting away from the polling place and the secrecy of the ballot. In the late 19th century, in response to corruption in big city political machines, states adopted the requirement that ballots be cast in private away from the prying eyes of party bosses and vote buyers. Absentee ballots were extended only to those people who needed them, and a notary public certified that the voter had filled out the ballot alone and without coercion.

In recent years, however, the balance has shifted away from the secrecy of the vote and toward convenience. Requirements for witnesses and notaries public have largely been dropped, and many states have moved to "no-excuses" absentee voting, where voters need not provide a reason for voting absentee. Others have offered voters a permanent absentee ballot status, where they no longer have to apply for absentee ballots, but receive them as a matter of course.

These changes have had dramatic effects, although not uniformly throughout the country. The West Coast states have embraced absentee voting. Oregon now votes 100 percent by mail. Washington state voted nearly 70 percent absentee in 2004, and California is anticipated to top 50 percent absentee voting in this election.

Other states have adopted early voting at polling places, which provides the protections of the secret ballot but allows voting several weeks before Election Day. Texas and Tennessee cast nearly half their votes in this fashion.

In the Northeast and Midwest, however, many states still look as they did 25 years ago, with little absentee voting and almost no early polling place voting. About 5 percent of New Jersey and Pennsylvania voters cast absentee ballots in 2004.

Both widespread absentee voting and early polling-place voting have proved to be popular with voters, but have not had the desired effect of increasing voter turnout.

With absentee and early voting trends steadily increasing, convenience voting is probably the future in America. But all forms of convenience voting are not equal. A large expansion of absentee voting threatens the secrecy of the ballot. On the other hand, allowing a short period of early voting at the polls preserves the security and civic importance of the moment while increasing the convenience that voters crave.

John C. Fortier is a research fellow at AEI.