Linda Chavez: Early voting isn't really good voting

Nearly one in four voters will have cast their ballot before Election Day, but I won’t be one of them. Nothing but grave illness could keep me from the polls on Nov. 2. I’ve never missed voting in a general election since 1968. And in all those years, I voted absentee only once, when my job took me out of town on Election Day.

If I sound a bit self-righteous on the subject, it’s because I am. I don’t believe that the trend toward early voting — embraced by both Republicans and Democrats — is a good thing. It eliminates an important public exercise of civic duty, one that helps build a sense of community and responsibility.