If you believe in broadening the franchise in democracy for the many rather than the few, the complaints from people who spent a chunk of their weekend waiting at the polls are infuriating. Like this one from Myrna Peralta in the Miami Herald : "This is America, not a third-world country. They should have been prepared." She spent almost two hours in line with her 4-year-old grandson before being shut out in Doral, Fla., the home of the election headquarters in ever-crucial Miami-Dade County. This was on Sunday, after elections officials opened the doors for four hours for in-person absentee voting -- and then suddenly shut them midstream when the mayor of Miami-Dade demanded it. (He said he hadn't agreed to the Sunday hours.) Almost 200 people were waiting and some of them actually banged on the doors, shouting "Let us vote!" Eventually, amid a barrage of phone calls to his office, the mayor gave in. Everyone who was still in line at 5 p.m. -- about 400 people -- got to cast ballots. But who knows how many gave up along the way. And why all the waiting and the craziness in the first place? Advertisement The problem is that early voting has become intensely partisan. Democrats increasingly press for more of it and Republicans for less.  It's sad: In a country known for low voting rates , where Election Day isn't a holiday and Tuesday lines at the polls deter people from showing up, early voting should be