I feel like we should stop calling it "early voting," that gives the wrong idea.  It's not early voting vs. election day, it's "the voting period."  There's nothing special about voting on election day, or any reason you should wait until that day, it's just the last day of the voting period.  If anything, it should be seen the other way around:  You've got three weeks to vote, and if you miss voting during that time, there's an extra day of "late voting" on November 5th.