By the time the polls open across America on Tuesday, millions of voters already will have cast their ballots.



Only a small percentage of them will be Pennsylvanians who had a legitimate excuse to vote in advance by absentee ballot.



In two-thirds of the states, citizens can vote before Election Day, some as early as six weeks before, with no excuse required.



That's only one of several convenience voting practices that other states provide but the Keystone State has spurned.



"We are in the Stone Age. We really are," said Muhlenberg College political science professor Christopher Borick. "It's not hyperbole to say that our election processes are among the least innovative in the country."



For lifelong Pennsylvanians who never experienced voting in another state, check this out:



In some states, not only can people vote early, they can register at the polls on Election Day. Pennsylvania cuts off voter registration about a month before the election.



In eight states, citizens can register online. Pennsylvania's election offices still require a paper form.



Eight counties in West Virginia are testing online voting this fall. In California, voters can drop off their absentee ballots at any polling place on Election Day. And in Oregon, and in all but one county in the state of Washington, there are no polling places. Voters there vote by mail or drop off ballots at specified sites.



Texas is experimenting with voting centers that allow people to vote on Election Day at any polling place in their county, not just the one generally closest to their home, as is the case in Pennsylvania.



All of these reforms are intended to make voting more convenient in today's hurried society in hopes of increasing turnout.



While some of these reforms' impact on turnout remains in question, even their skeptics agree that Pennsylvania could make it easier for voters to participate.



For one, it could extend the hours that polls are open on Election Day beyond 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. New York allows voting from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., for example.



Bonita Hoke, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, said her organization has been an advocate of that idea, as well as curbside voting for citizens with a disability who prefer to vote at their polling place rather than by absentee ballot.



"They feel that's part of their patriotic duty to go out on Election Day and cast their vote," Hoke said.



Online voter registration is an aspect of the voting process that Douglas Chapin, elections initiatives director for the Pew Center on the States, predicts will become more prevalent as the states testing it work out the bugs.



Curtis Ganz, director of American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate, suggested Pennsylvania begin to explore the voting center concept that Texas is trying. He predicts this, too, will catch on once the kinks are worked out.



Pennsylvania also should push back the voter registration deadline to 10 days before the election, Ganz said.



The two gubernatorial candidates are lukewarm to the idea of exploring reforms to the state's election laws.



Concerning Election Day voter registration, Republican Tom Corbett said he'd consider it on the condition that it be combined with safeguards to ensure voters are eligible to vote. Democrat Dan Onorato said he supports more flexible voter registration deadlines, potentially including Election Day registration, provided it can be done without destroying the integrity of the voting process.



On no-excuse absentee voting, Onorato supports it. Corbett is open to it but would want to see the pluses and minuses associated with early voting in states that allow it.



Both of those ideas have the support of Action United, a Philadelphia and Pittsburgh-based advocacy group for low- and moderate-income citizens. Executive Director Craig Robbins said given the odd hours and multiple jobs of citizens in these socioeconomic groups, reforms such as early voting and longer poll hours are needed to allow more of them to participate.



People "move more often, so being able to register on the same day is certainly another thing to open up the democratic process," Robbins said. "If we really are interested in giving people a chance to participate, those things are critical for Pennsylvania to adopt."



Corbett and Onorato voiced reservations about casting votes via the Internet. Both said they'd be open to exploring the idea but would want to be convinced it can be done in a secure and reliable way.



While some say Pennsylvania's traditional electoral practices hinder participation, Ganz takes a different view. "As far as I'm concerned, in opposing those [reforms], Pennsylvania is doing the Lord's work," he said.



He maintains that some of these election process novelties have not been given deep enough thought.



Internet voting can be susceptible to hackers, viruses and computer glitches that can disrupt elections, he said. Same-day registration can work in states with no history of voter fraud, but Pennsylvania is not in that category with its instances of votes cast in the names of dead people and other fraudulent practices.



And then there's early or no-excuse absentee balloting. Ganz said he abhors that for several reasons, including the information differential upon which votes are cast.



He pointed to the 2008 presidential election when nearly a third of all votes were cast before Election Day. Suppose, he said, the stock market crashed the Friday before that election or Republican nominee Sen. John McCain had died the Saturday before the election. "There would have been 30 [million] to 40 million votes already cast that could not have had that information factored in," Ganz said.



"So there are good reasons why you don't want those things," he said.



Early voting, however, is the one reform that Cumberland County elections director Penny Brown supports. "That would not impact our normal election operation because we do send out absentees already but we would obviously send out more," she said.



Most election reforms cannot be implemented without changing laws or amending the Constitution. That can be a mammoth task if the political parties aren't onboard. But Borick suggests it's time for reforms to be considered.



"If we are serious about increasing turnout, there are things we could do on the government side to help make that happen," he said. "Voters still have to do their part, and too many don't, but that doesn't take the onus off the state from trying to enhance the process."

