In my state, early voting is conducted exactly the same way as election day voting. You must already be registered to vote, and you must show an ID. The only difference is you can vote anywhere in your county during early voting, vs. only at your precinct on election day. This makes it easier for some to vote during their lunch break.

While the number of early voters is compiled each day (by county, and statewide), the results are not reported. I trust our Republican Secretary of State to keep the results confidential.

Thanks to early voting, only a small percentage can request an absentee ballot -- as you must be over 65, disabled, or out of the county during early voting and election day. Normally, it's less than 3%, but this year it's about 5% of registered voters (so far).

Before I retired, I was usually in another state on Election Day. Since early voting is open at least one weekend, it meant I could vote in person rather than request an absentee ballot. Now that we are retired, we are able to wait for a good time, or even go to a less populated town to vote. We were in and out in 10 minutes.