The flip side of early primaries

A lot has been written about the rush to hold earlier primaries this year, but one of the forgotten aspects is how these votes affect those actually organizing the elections.

Foster's Daily Democrat in New Hampshire offered a glimpse today of the crunch small New Hampshire towns are facing with the Jan. 8 primary date looming ahead.

"The date, almost three weeks earlier than in 2004, is forcing the often two- or three-person staffs to condense a workload that is normally dispersed among several months into about six weeks following the Nov. 21 announcement."

To compound matters, the primary will occur during winter break for most colleges, which means a potential increase in the number of absentee ballots clerks will have to handle.