The Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore was explicitly limited in its judicial scope: it awarded the 2000 election to George W. Bush – and nothing more. But the aftermath was a different matter: in the years following, the “case and controversy from which it arose gave rise to a new wave of legislative and judicial attention to the mechanics of elections” (Lowenstein, Hasen, and Tokaji, 2008, 82). A sea change in media coverage and extensive legal commentary shone a light on every aspect of America’s election system. In this chapter, we concern ourselves with just one of these: early voting.

Early (or “convenience”) voting is a family of related methods by which citizens cast ballots at a time and place other than on election day at the precinct. Expanding outward from its modest beginnings in a small number of reformist Western states (California, Oregon, and Washington) joined by one Midwestern (Iowa) and two Southern (Texas, Tennessee) pioneers, early voting has become a regular fixture of American elections. In the 2008 presidential contest, nearly one-third of votes were cast at a place and time other than the precinct on election day.