In 2008, the Democratic Party utilized early voting to help win the White House and expand their majorities in Congress. The party is planning to push early voting again in 2010. Here's a list of states and the early voting requirements.
Democrats are betting they can use early voting to help avoid a repeat of the throw-the-bums-out elections of 1994, when Republicans captured the House of Representatives for the first time in four decades.
A key difference today "is that in 1994, I think a third of voters had access to early voting; now it's 70%," a senior Obama administration official told reporters last week. The official said Democrats had done well in special House elections this year in part because "we organized very well around early voting, and we did that well in 2008."
This diary will focus on two states with early voting, Iowa and Ohio. Note: Early voting has begun in Georgia, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. Early voting begins this week in Nebraska as well.