This now makes 29 states, or nearly 3/5, in total.
The states beginning the early voting process today are Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, and North Dakota .
Note from me - I will also point out that of the 5 most populous states, only Texas (#2) and Pennsylvania (#5) are participating in early voting at this stage, demonstrating how completely unnecessary this nonsense is.
Most populous states and their early voting starts:
CA - Pop. +39 Million, October 3rd
TX - Pop. +29 Million
FL - Pop. +21 Million, October 2nd
NY - Pop. +19 Million, October 1st
PA - Pop. +12 Million
For those keeping track
Mailed out ballots:
North Carolina -9/4
Kentucky - 9/14
Wisconsin - 9/17
Arkansas - 9/18
Minnesota - 9/18
South Dakota - 9/18
West Virginia - 9/18
Alabama - 9/19
Delaware - 9/19
Georgia - 9/19
Idaho - 9/19
Indiana - 9/19
Louisiana - 9/19
Michigan - 9/19
New Jersey - 9/19
Oklahoma - 9/19
Pennsylvania - 9/19
Rhode Island - 9/19
Tennessee - 9/19
Texas - 9/19
Vermont - 9/19
Virginia - 9/19
Wyoming - 9/19
Missouri - 9/22
Illinois - 9/24
Maryland - 9/24
Mississippi - 9/24
North Dakota - 9/24
Began in-person early voting:
Pennsylvania - 9-14
Minnesota - 9/18
South Dakota - 9/18
Virginia - 9/18
Wyoming - 9/18
Michigan - 9/19
New Jersey - 9/19
Vermont - 9/19
Illinois - 9/24
Michigan -9/24
And these 29 states have begun this process without the benefit of having a single presidential debate beforehand.
It should be noted that President Trump requested multiple times to have the debate schedule moved up, but his opponent and the debate commission both declined to accommodate his requests.
What’s the big deal. Less than 10% of the electorate are true swing voters. They’ll vote for their party candidate today or in November. Judging by the posts on this board, there’s not a single thing that could happen during the debates which would change a vote one way or another.
Maybe a better question is what specifically would need to occur during a debate to make a Trump supporter vote for Biden or vice versa? Not a prediction of what will happen to sway someone to your chosen candidate, but what would it take personally to switch and vote for the other guy?
Why not have this available? I already know who I’m going to vote for. Debates aren’t going to change my mind.
For the few that may be undecided at this point, no one is holding a gun to their head and forcing them to vote before the debates. If they need the debates to help make a decision, they have the option of waiting until after the debates to vote.
Arizona is a crucial battleground state during this election. Arizona doesn’t start mailing out ballots until after the first Presidential debate. I already know who I am going to vote for, but I have to wait after the first Presidential debate to get my mail-in ballot.
No one is required to early vote. If one is undecided, one will likely wait for the debates and for November 3.
Personally I don’t want to wait in long lines with the Bleach Covidians with their masks around their chins and grimy fingers rubbing their noses and mouths. Gross. I’m glad for this safe option to vote.
I only have a month and a half to vote in person or to mail in my ballot even thought there is not reason to do so. Trump is trying to disenfranchise me.
I know- making access to voting to as many people as possible is such a bad thing…
Why is it almost every time someone who’s conservative or an official member of the GOP discusses voting, they tend to come down on the side of making access to voting more difficult?
Yeah, I think it was North Carolina where they wanted to “limit” voting to two weeks and Democrats were screaming about disenfranchisement. It was terrible.
