Early voting gets underway in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, North Dakota, Texas, and the District of Columbia Monday.
That brings to 27 states plus the District of Columbia where early or state-wide absentee voting is underway in the November 2 midterm elections.
Vermont kicked it off back on Sept. 20. Other states were early voting or state-wide absentee voting is under are Georgia, Maine, South Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin, California, Indiana, Montana, Arizona, Illinois, Idaho, Kansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Nevada.
Hawaii, Louisiana and Utah allow early voting as of Tuesday, with Oklahoma kicking in on Oct. 29.
"Early voting has grown in popularity, with more voters in more states casting ballots before Election Day. It's really changed the decision calculus behind elections for both candidates and voters. It can be a double-edged sword," says CNN Political Research Director Robert Yoon.
"For the campaigns, if someone casts an early ballot for you, it's like money in the bank. But if they vote against you, that's a lost vote that no amount of TV ads or baby-kissing can change. For voters, you just have to hope that the candidate you voted for back in September is still the candidate you want on November 2nd," adds Yoon.
I think early voting is a bad concept. Here are some examples:
On October 18, Jim Norman appealed last week’s Florida state court ruling that removed him from the ballot. He won the August Republican primary for State Senate in the 12th district, but a Leon County Circuit Court then said his campaign finance reports are dishonest and disqualified him. The story also explains that the Republican Party is making plans to choose a new nominee.
But voters many have already voted and cast a write-in vote for Kevin Ambler in early voting. Unfortunately for those voters, those write-ins won’t be counted because Ambler didn’t file a declaration of write-in candidacy by the July deadline.
Kentucky has the easiest petition requirement of any state, for candidates running in party primaries. They only need 2 valid signatures, plus a filing fee. On October 13, a lower state court declared that the Republican nominee in the 44th state house district, Gail Powers, only submitted one valid signature. The other signature she submitted is from a registered voter who lives outside the 44th district.
The story also says that the Democratic nominee for state house, 37th district, is also being challenged for the same reason. It is too late for these candidates’ names to be removed from the ballot, but if a candidate is determined to have failed to submit a valid petition, votes for that person will not be counted. Kentucky permits write-ins in the general election, if the write-in candidate files a declaration of write-in candidacy by October 22. But it would be difficult for anyone to be a write-in candidate if that person’s name were printed on the ballot. It would be difficult to explain to voters that they should ignore the name of the candidate that is printed on the ballot, yet that same voter should cast a write-in vote for that candidate.
What do you think about early voting?
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!
Michael H. Drucker
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