Postal ballots may force candidates to spend in California

VOTE-BY-MAIL ballots go out this week in America’s most populous state, forcing presidential campaigns to consider using scarce dollars to lure early California voters while contests unfold in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

More than half the total votes in California’s February 5 primary could be mailed in, and many of those ballots will be cast before the election day in a state that has seen little evidence of the 2008 presidential campaign. California isn’t alone. Residents of 11 states — Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Carolina and Utah — have been able to vote by mail for their favourite candidates since December.

The first was Michigan, where absentee ballots were made available on December 1 for the January 15 primary.