in 2008? again, the link may merely be correlated and not causative. it could just be coincidence. you know who else noticed there was a link between early voting and democratic success? republicans noticed. in florida, rick scott signed a bill that cuts early voting from 14 days to 8 days and takes away voting on the sunday before the election when many african-american churches carpool to the polls. and in ohio, republicans tried to cut early voting in half. they eventually had to settle for cutting just the last three days, when almost 100,000 ohioans voted in 2008. then ohio republicans tried to offer more time for early voting in republican counties than in democratic counties. so you really could vote more easily if you live in a red county. ohio republicans tried that and it almost worked. until yesterday, under public pressure and i think maybe some embarrassment, ohio's republican secretary of state john houston finally announced that he was cutting back early voting equally for everyone.