Clinton, Obama seek early voting upper hand

updated 2:07 p.m. ET Feb. 28, 2008

AUSTIN, Texas - Voting on primary day is so yesterday.

"Early voting is easy voting," said 47-year-old Robin Schneider, one of more than half a million Texans who has taken advantage of a state law that permits ballots to be cast before election day in the state's hotly contested Democratic primary between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as the Republican contest.

The two Democratic presidential rivals have put a premium on coaxing voters and others like her to the polls early, with success.

Which is why Bill Clinton stood on the back of a red Chevy pickup trust in El Paso recently, pointing to a nearby early voting location and asking supporters to cast a ballot for his wife.

And why Obama's speeches wouldn't be complete without him reading aloud nearby early voting locations, and urging his audience to make use of them.

Leading edge of early voting
The state makes early balloting unusually convenient for voters, setting up polling stations in parks, recreation centers, grocery stores and KMarts. Democrats have flooded the locations since early voting began Feb. 19, overwhelming county election officials unaccustomed to handling such turnout.

"Texas is on the leading edge of early voting in this country — they have a lot more locations available and are more creative about putting them in places where people actually go," said Paul Gronke, a political scientist at Oregon's Reed College who studies early voting. "Most other states make you go to county buildings and libraries. I am not familiar with any other state that makes locations as available as Texas does."

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Clinton has pinned the hopes of her struggling candidacy on winning Ohio and Texas March 4, and encouraging her supporters to cast early ballots has been a pivotal part of her campaign strategy here. But data from the state's 15 biggest counties indicate Obama's supporters are also coming out in large numbers, particularly in cities like Dallas and Houston that are home to affluent, educated voters and blacks.

Clinton is ahead in Ohio, but the contest in Texas is much tighter, polls indicate.

Some 512,000 people in the state's major counties have already cast votes in the Democratic contest, more than four times the level of turnout seen in 2004. Just 173,000 have voted in the Republican primary so far.

Early voting is easy voting
The state's complicated electoral system has led both campaigns to push for early voting. The state holds both a primary next Tuesday and precinct caucuses later that evening, placing a burden on millions of voters who may not have time to show up twice in the same day to a voting location.

By contrast, early balloting has allowed people a 10-day window through Friday to vote in locations throughout their county. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., even last Saturday and Sunday.

Early voting is also a great organizing tool, giving the campaigns a ready-made list of people who have already voted. They can then contact those voters directly and encourage them to attend the caucuses.

"I wanted to get it out of the way so that if something comes up on election day, I'm set and ready to go," said Schneider after casting her ballot outside an HEB grocery store in Austin. "I definitely want to show up at my polling place Tuesday night for the caucus, but that's after work. So this gets the voting part out of the way."

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