No excuses

Today is the start of election day in Texas. Yes, I know the votes won't be tallied until Nov. 2. But early voting started today in four states (Texas and Florida included) and I was there to cast my ballot at 12:20 p.m. today. The process went like this:

11:46 a.m. - Decided I want to vote today in Texas' early voting system.
11:47 a.m. - Through the miracle of the Internet (Thanks, Gore), I found polling locations, grabbed my registration card and walked out the door.
12:03 p.m. - Arrive at polling place with about 40 other civic-minded persons (including my barber who stood in front of me in line).
12:20 p.m. - Press the red "VOTE" button, virtually assuring Texas will remain a red state.

So there you have it. From decision to completion, 34 minutes. Early voting in Texas happens from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Oct. 18 through Oct. 22. On Oct. 23 (a Saturday) from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., on Sunday Oct. 24 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and then from Oct. 25 through Oct. 29 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. This all means you have no excuse not to vote – 122 hours of early voting at multiple locations.

SIDE NOTE: Today's Note outlined various Electoral possibilities. Among them, Bush wins in Ohio and Florida and Kerry wins elsewhere could send the election to the House of Representatives, where Kerry would lose. Just so everyone isn't caught off guard, this is all part of constitutional law. Here's how it could go down:

Imagine if you will:
—John Kerry victories in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, and New Hampshire. (That would get him to 262 electoral votes.)

—George Bush victories in Florida, Wisconsin (perhaps the most likely state to turn from Blue to Red), and Colorado. (That would get him to 259 electoral votes.)

John Kerry would need to put some combination of two of the three remaining states (Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico) into his column. Yes, yes — the president would have to put two of those three in his column and Iowa would have to be one of them, but these three states currently seem to be giving the president a slight edge.

And that's a scenario giving Ohio to John Kerry, obviously not a certainty to say the very least.

Now, Senator Kerry could win Pennsylvania and Florida and lose Ohio which would complicate the president's path to 270 a bit more, but we won't run through those scenarios today as it seems somewhat less likely.

And, unlike for the president, it is near impossible to imagine a scenario where John Kerry loses two of those Big Three and still wins the White House. He could hold everything Gore won in 2000 and flip Nevada and New Hampshire from Red to Blue and still only end up at a tying 269 and losing in the House of Representatives.

Here are the rules for winning the Prez in the House.