Did you vote early? Is your candidate still in the race?

In Peoria County, registered voters could cast a ballot between Jan. 14 and Jan. 31 for the Feb. 5 primary. The trouble is, since Jan. 14, several candidates have dropped out. If you voted for Fred Thompson, John Edwards, or Rudy Giuliani, sorry, they’re not in the race anymore and there’s no way to change your vote.

Similarly, in the weeks leading up to a campaign, you may find out some new information that will change your mind about a particular candidate. Blogger BlueOllie found that out the hard way:

[N]ow I find out that a candidate I voted for has some serious ethical issues. First a misstatement about her graduating from college in a radio ad. Then a shoplifting conviction, as an adult. Then she paid the fine 8 years later, and now has a 3 year old moving violation that she has just paid. Oh boy. That sign is not staying up in our front yard. I am sorry that I voted the way that I did.

Now that’s not to say that early voting is a bad thing. It just has considerably more risk in a primary election than a general election. In a general election, I’ve never heard of a candidate dropping out, although I don’t doubt there’s some obscure situation where that did happen. Likewise, voters are unlikely to cast a ballot for the other party’s candidate unless there were some really devastating revelation about their own party’s candidate (like, “he was the man on the grassy knoll that shot Kennedy”).

As for me, I’m in no hurry. I can wait until election day to vote.