Officials on the State Board of Elections are considering extending early voting hours Saturday by four hours.
Early voting hours this Saturday were set to end at 1:00 p.m. in most counties. The proposed change would extend voting hours to 5:00 p.m. Saturday. However, local Boards of Elections must approve the change.
James Hall, a senior in communication, said he does not think extending early voting hours will increase turnout significantly.
“People who have strong opinions have already likely voted or have planned which candidate they are going to vote for,” he said. “For most people Tuesday is voting day. If a week-long increase hasn’t changed things enough, I don’t think four hours will make a difference, especially since people may already have Saturday plans.”
Hall said he also doubts that extending early voting Saturday by four hours will make early voting any more convenient.
“People voting age and above are usually those who work or have their schedules already planned out,” he said. “Extending early voting hours could make it more convenient, but only if people know about it.”
However, Michael Boergert, a senior in math, said the change would make a difference because it would make voting on Saturday more convenient.
“People sleep late on Saturdays, so making it so people can vote later in the day will make it easier to get there,” he said. “I’m sure some people are just going to wait until Election Day regardless.”
Boergert said he will not be voting early, so a change in early voting hours will not affect him.
“I’m suspicious of early voting because there’s a lot of room for fraud,” he said. “There is lot of controversy in a lot of states about votes getting counted twice.”
According to Boergert, people who vote early are at a disadvantage because they have less time to choose between candidates and will not being able to take into account last minute speeches.
“It’s best if you weight everything and really think about who you’re voting for before you vote,” he said. “I do that even with student elections.”
Jessica Garland, a sophomore in business administration, said it would help if early voting hours were increased.
“If the hours are increased for Saturday it would be easier for people who want to vote last minute,” she said. “Lines are outrageous so it will give people more time.”
According to Garland, it is critical for the Board of Elections to publicize the changes, if there are any.
“The effectiveness of increasing early voting hours depends on how they market it,” she said. “It’s definitely possible to get word out, so early voting will at least increase it by a little bit. It is a really smart idea to have early voting on Saturdays because some people need to go home to vote and they will not want to do that during the week.”