Buzz over at the Dean blog is that a large number of absentee ballots have been cast in NM and AZ. Obviously this is a bit of optimism on their part, but more generally I really really don't like the proliferation of easy vote-by-mail. I know many disagree with me on this subject, but a campaign has a certain rhythm to it and voting weeks in advance tends to undercut that. I mean, what if, say, Rick Santorum were in a primary race for a senate seat and the Santorum-on-Dog pictures didn't come out until after thousands of people had already cast their votes?
...note, I'm not coming out against all absentee balloting. But, it used to be that the norm was that you had to go through the trouble of signing an affadavit swearing that you were going to be unable to go to the polls for one of the acceptable reasons. I'm all for making going to vote at the polls easier, but I'm really not for the "everyone vote by internet or mail if they want to" schemes.
