The US election is underneath manner throughout the nation, and so excess of 80 million folks have voted early, in keeping with the College of Florida’s election lab.
In quite a few states, the push to vote earlier than election day, whether or not by mail or in-person, has amounted to an unprecedented wave of early voting.
Greater than 97,000 voted on Wisconsin’s first day of early, in-person voting – an “unparalleled” stage of turnout, wrote the state elections commissioner, Ann Jacobs, on Twitter/X. On 15 October, Georgia’s first day of early voting, the state “shattered information”, in keeping with the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger. By 23 October, greater than 1.9 million folks had forged a poll there in-person or by mail. And in North Carolina, which had been devastated by Hurricane Helene simply weeks earlier, greater than 353,000 voters turned out to forged a poll early on 18 October – one other state document. By 23 October, greater than 1.7 million had voted within the election.
Voting early in-person or absentee permits voters some flexibility of their schedule – by casting a poll early, they will keep away from contending with dangerous climate, lengthy strains or surprising scheduling conflicts on election day.
What’s early voting?
States – excluding Mississippi, New Hampshire and Alabama – provide all voters the chance to forged a poll in individual at a polling place forward of election day, in keeping with the Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures.
In these locations, registered voters can head to their polling location throughout the early voting timeframe and forged a poll early. Most states start counting these ballots on election day, and a few require officers to attend till polls are closed to start counting.
Some states provide a model of early voting referred to as “in-person absentee” voting, during which a voter can receive and submit an absentee poll in individual at a polling place earlier than election day.
What about absentee voting?
Most states permit for some type of absentee voting, during which a voter requests a poll forward of time, which officers then ship to them within the mail to fill out and return by mail. Some jurisdictions provide voters the choice of returning absentee ballots to a secured dropbox. Fourteen states require an excuse for voters to forged a poll by mail, equivalent to an sickness or work scheduling battle. Eight states observe “all-mail” elections – in these locations, all registered voters obtain a poll within the mail, whether or not or not they plan to make use of it.
Federal legislation requires states to ship absentee ballots to navy voters and voters abroad.
States regulate the “processing” and counting of absentee ballots; most states permit officers to instantly course of ballots, which generally entails verifying the signature on the poll with the voter’s signature from once they registered to vote. Different states require officers to attend till election day to start processing ballots – which may sluggish the discharge of election outcomes.
When does early and absentee voting begin this yr, and the way do I do it?
The primary ballots of the overall election have already been despatched to voters in states together with Wisconsin and Maryland, and to some eligible voters in Alabama. Mail voting has stalled in North Carolina, the place a authorized battle over whether or not or not Robert F Kennedy Jr can seem on the poll has slowed the method. By 21 September, election officers in lots of states can have begun sending out absentee ballots.
The precise dates, places and guidelines surrounding early and absentee voting fluctuate by state, county and even municipality. First affirm that you’re registered to vote after which contact your native election workplace or examine their web site for particulars about early and absentee voting.
Who votes early and by mail, and does it profit one social gathering over the opposite?
Analysis suggests that earlier than 2020, implementing voting by mail didn’t profit one social gathering greater than one other. However in 2020, with the pandemic raging, Democrats urged folks to vote by mail to keep away from publicity to Covid, and fought authorized battles to increase absentee voting in states the place the observe had not already been extensively adopted. In the meantime, within the months forward of the election, Donald Trump claimed falsely that the method was rife with fraud, most likely scaring Republican voters away from the distant choice.
Ultimately, Democrats noticed good points in the course of the 2020 basic election in counties that used mail-in voting, in keeping with knowledge from the Guardian and ProPublica.
Within the wake of the 2022 midterm elections, when Democrats outperformed expectations and maintained management of the Senate, Republicans started to reverse course on voting early – and have continued to advocate for voters to embrace the method since then. The reversal seems to have had an impression: within the swing states of Arizona and Nevada, Republicans had outpaced Democrats barely in early voting turnout by 23 October, in keeping with knowledge collected by the Related Press.
Is it secure to vote by mail?
Mail voting is taken into account extraordinarily safe within the US, and cases of fraud in mail voting are vanishingly uncommon. In a 2020 column, the elections skilled Rick Hasen famous that between 2000 and 2012, there have been fewer than 500 examples of vote-by-mail fraud, out of billions of votes forged. (Because the Brennan Heart for Justice notes, this makes mail-in voting fraud much less probably than being struck by lightning).
Whereas mail-in voting fraud is extraordinarily uncommon, election officers throughout the nation have raised issues about postal delays that might lead to eligible voters’ ballots reaching election clerks after the deadline to depend their ballots.
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