Generally speaking, more democracy is good, voter fraud is bad and partisanship on matters relating to the electoral process is silly.

Yet there’s an argument brewing at the Capitol over whether early voting should be implemented throughout the state. Currently, if you don’t want to vote on Election Day, you can vote absentee either by mail or at the city clerk’s office in the weeks prior to the election.

But these absentee ballots are not counted until 5 p.m. on Election Day. In the 2008 presidential election, this caused an administrative nightmare for many city clerks who didn’t have the manpower to sort and alphabetize these ballots.

The solution? Democrats say early voting should be allowed, which would permit clerks to count the ballots as they are cast instead of waiting until Election Day. Republicans, who are often criticized for trying to keep people from the ballots in hopes of improving their chances, say this plan would allow for more voter fraud.

Both parties are missing the mark on this one. The real problem is that most clerks don’t have the voting machinery necessary to implement early voting, meaning the state would have to invest $30 to $40 million to bring in new equipment.

Given the last shortfall Wisconsin faced, this would be a huge waste of money. Absentee voting is important, but there’s no reason to think this early voting plan would get more people to cast a ballot, as Democrats argue. Early voting would only guarantee the program continued, which is mandated by law anyway.

And Republicans have erroneously screamed fraud in practically every election since Kennedy-Nixon in 1960, so let’s not even waste time with them.

Rather than spending millions on some fancy new machinery, the state should throw some money at clerks who struggled to staff their offices in 2008 — especially before big presidential and gubernatorial elections. This would be relatively inexpensive and still guarantee everyone has a chance to cast his ballot.

The Government Accountability Board may have several cities, including Fitchburg and Sun Prairie, try out early voting with machinery they already have for the general election this fall. If these cities want to do it, they should be allowed to, but mandating it on a state level is unnecessary.