Early voting in person starts today – Sept 18 – in these states:
Minnesota
South Dakota
Virginia
Wyoming
…..
Always check your state and county websites for specific information about voting times and voting locations.
…..
Early voting in person starts on Monday – Sept 21 – in Vermont.
Early voting in person starts on Thursday – Sept 24 – in Michigan.
Early voting in person starts on Thursday – Sept 24 – in SOME COUNTIES in Illinois.
Missouri does not offer an early voting period. If you will be unable to vote in person on Election Day, you can request an absentee ballot/mail-in ballot by mail or by visiting your local election office – beginning on Sept 22.
…..
Massachusetts early voting starts October 17
GA early voting: October 12 – October 30
Ohio starts on October 6
Florida early voting: October 24 – 31 (Oct 19 in some places!)
Maine early voting: October 5 – 30
Texas early voting: October 13 – October 30.
RI early voting begins October 14.
California: October 5 – November 2
New Mexico: Oct 17 – 31
North Carolina: Oct 15 – 31
Missouri: September 22
Nevada: October 17 – 30
Colorado: October 19
West Virginia: Oct 21 – Oct 31
Kropacetic
Massachusetts is October 17 to 30.
JPL
Lines are long in Fairfax County. GA early voting starts on Oct. 12. I’m counting the days.
Baud
Cool. Who you all voting for?
Matt McIrvin
@Kropacetic: I’ve been checking every day to see when they mail out my ballot. For the state primary, I got it back to them before in-person early voting started.
Ken
Well, I had thought Biden, but then I read Pletka’s editorial and thought about what it was saying, and now I’m voting Biden.
WaterGirl
I thought I might do one of these posts every day that early voting starts somewhere. If you do have info about when early voting begins in your state, feel free to add it to the comments – that will save me some googling.
Illinois starts a week from yesterday. I plan to be the first person there.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: I’m undecided. Is there really any difference?
JPL
OT My grand imp has been working on a dance routine similar to Neptune.. GA Aquarium and I haven’t taped it yet. It’s on tik-tok. The imp isn’t visiting until Wednesday, will I still be able to watch it?
debbie
Ohio starts on October 6th. I have the 16th off, so that’s my target date for voting. I’ve scrounged up some gloves, already have mask, sanitizer, and pen, so I should be set.
ETA: Early voting ends on November 2nd. There’s also noises about setting up more drop-off boxes for mail-in ballots, so that should be easier, too.
Tony Jay
The GOP version of that VOTE banner is twice as big, unfortunately each letter, every hand and the background are the exact same shade of whiter than white.
Completely by accident, I’m sure.
JPL
@WaterGirl: I plan on being first also.
GA Oct 12th to the 30th
You can request a ballot online using your license number which also counts as your signature. Every county will have at least one if not more drop off boxes. Those ballots will be picked up every evening.
JoyceH
@JPL: I saw a news report on the lines in Fairfax. That’s Northern Virginia so those are Biden voters. I’m planning to vote next week. Saw a post on my local board that you can just walk in, no waiting.
Benw
@Baud: I sold my mail in ballot to Soros antifa. You?
Dorothy A. Winsor
I love how eager people are to vote. They want this done!
Redshift
@JoyceH: Yup, more than 100 people waiting in line in Fairfax when they opened at 8:30.
oatler.
no comment
https://www.joemygod.com/2020/09/weed-decriminalization-bill-put-off-until-after-election/
oatler.
no comment
https://rollcall.com/2020/09/17/house-postpones-vote-to-decriminalize-marijuana-until-after-election/
Anonymous At Work
Florida: October 24th to the 31st. Early vote to make the rats harder to f*&k.
Matt McIrvin
@JoyceH: I remember when Chantilly was lily-white and deep, deep Republican territory. It’s not any more.
JoyceH
@Redshift: I love these news reports. I suspect a lot of people will see them and go “huh. I wonder if my state has early voting?” And a steady drumbeat of news stories about people lining up early to vote out Trump will make it a lot harder for him to claim that some sinister force is stealing the election from him in the dark of night – not when the voters are lined up right there in the light of day.
JanieM
MAINE: We have in-person absentee voting from October 5 to October 30. I’ve done that some years — it’s quick and easy. In my town it’s any time town hall is open, which is most weekday hours. And now there’s a special block of a few hours set aside once a week for people at extra risk from COVID-19.
Cheryl Rofer
Got my request for a mail-in ballot in the mail a few days ago. I’m hanging onto it in case anything happens, but my plan is to vote in person a day or two after early voting starts.
RoonieRoo
Texas early voting starts October 13 til October 30.
JoyceH
We should start relentlessly mocking the Trumpies’ conspiracy theories. “Look at all those people lined up to vote. They must have been printed in China.”
WaterGirl
@Cheryl Rofer: Do you happen to know the dates for your state?
Matt McIrvin
@Cheryl Rofer: My plan is to use my mail ballot, which I requested back in the summer and should be mailing out any day now, and hand-deliver it to the drop box at City Hall. Chances are this will get it back in the election office’s hands before in-person early voting begins.
WaterGirl
@Tony Jay: White, whiter, whitest?
Tony Jay
@WaterGirl:
Sounds like Tallahassee’s top law firm since 1867
(Sorry, Betty)
JanieM
Maine P.S. We have mail-in absentee too, I just decided I’d rather do it in person this year, all in all.
WaterGirl
@Tony Jay: That would be White, Whiter & Whitest, Attorneys at Law
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: You. Obvs.
Gin & Tonic
Early voting in RI begins October 14.
Tony Jay
@WaterGirl:
Motto – “We keep you out on bail and out of jail”
And that’s the way it goes.
Anonymous At Work
Florida addendum: October 19th in some places. They don’t make this easy. Vote Early if you can do so safely. Hand it in, drop it off, if voting by mail.
Cheryl Rofer
@WaterGirl: No. Our local paper, the Santa Fe New Mexican, is very good about informing us, so I am waiting to hear from them. I think it’s around October 13, ends the Friday before Election Day.
Scout211
Vote on Election Day
All registered voters in California will receive a ballot by mail. However, in-person voting locations will be available to voters. Polling locations may be found online by visiting the Secretary of State’s My Voter Status tool.
Vote early
California voters can also vote before Election Day. The early voting period runs from Monday, October 5, 2020 to Monday, November 2, 2020, but dates and hours may vary based on where you live. Early voting and vote-by-mail ballot drop off locations may be found on the Secretary of State’s Early Voting website.
What to bring
Kropacetic
I had a recent change of address so I decided to do in-person because I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough time. Also I don’t trust some of my cohabitants.
dexwood
@Cheryl Rofer: 10/17 through 10/31 in New Mexico for early voting.
sheila in nc
North Carolina:
https://www.ncsbe.gov/voting/vote-early-person
One-stop early voting in person begins Oct 15 and runs through Oct 31. You may vote at any site within your county of residence. You may even register and vote on the same day (with appropriate identification) which is not permitted on Election Day.
Note: If you have previously requested a mail-in ballot, but decide not to use it and rather to vote in person, bring the mail-in ballot with you to the voting site. You won’t be allowed to actually put it in the tabulator, but you can prove to the official at the voting site that you haven’t mailed it, so they can let you vote normally. Otherwise, you’ll have to vote a provisional ballot.
GregMulka
In person absentee voting begins in MO September 22. I’m signed up to be an election judge and they want all of us to vote absentee so as not to shut down pollpads. So sometime in the next two weeks. They’re anticipating a bit of a crowd on Tuesday.
Galento
In the case of Illinois, in-person early voting dates are established by county. So, not everyone can go vote in Illinois starting on the 24th. Best to check your county clerk’s website for dates and locations.
Alice
Nevada’s early voting is October 17 – 30.
Jackie
WaterGirl, this link lists Early Voting dates for all states:
https://www.vote.org/early-voting-calendar/
WaterGirl
@Galento: updated, thanks
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Thanks!
Yeah, that’s the one I started with, but many of them say “x number of days before the election.”
So I figure if people supply dates, I can (roughly) check against that file to make sure the dates people supply roughly matches the # of days ahead of time, so it still saves me googling 50 states to find the exact dates.
debbie
Stephen Colbert has set up a website with state-by-state voting information.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Had not seen that one!
The DNC put one up this week, also. I found it interesting and noteworthy that Barack Obama plugged the Vote Save America website for one-stop voting information rather than the new one the DNC had put up.
lowtechcyclist
@JoyceH:
:waves from across the Potomac:
I grew up in Fairfax County, off Fort Hunt Road south of Alexandria. Been living in Maryland for 22 years but still think of myself as a Virginia expat.
My wife and I have requested absentee ballots, and when we get them, we’ll fill them in and I’ll run them down to the county elections office in Prince Frederick. They’d probably get there safely by mail, but this way we won’t have to worry.
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist: When does Maryland start counting the early ballots? I’m bummed to see that in Illinois they don’t start counting them until 7 pm on election day.
Matt McIrvin
@Kropacetic: I did in-person early in 2016 and 2018, mostly to see how it worked and help publicize it. I remember the voting station being nearly deserted both times–if you’d wanted to minimize contagion risk, it would have been a great way. But things might be different this year!
(In my precinct, though, there are never big crowds at the polling places even on Election Day; you get in and out fast.)
Barbara
I was going to vote today, but I don’t think I will have time. So I am going to vote tomorrow.
Martin
CA had been moving to 100% vote by mail option prior to Covid, determined at the county level, so at most a few counties moved up their plans. My county already mails every voter a ballot, mail it back, drop it off, etc. etc. Lots of options to suit different people – including a machine on or ahead of election day, website to track your ballot, very competently administered.
Should get ballots in a bit and will drop them off early, in person. This doesn’t need to be hard if your goal as administrator is to make it not be hard.
Martin
And someone’s gender reveal party just turned into a likely charge of criminally negligent homicide. Hope it was worth it.
Uncle Cosmo
@Cheryl Rofer: Is NM one of those states where you have to turn in the (uncompleted) absentee ballot when you show up to vote in person? I think in MD if you don’t do that you can only complete a provisional ballot. Worth checking. (ETA: Sounds like NC has the same proviso, see #38 supra.)
trollhattan
To addend the California info above, Sac County mails ballots starting October 5 and drop box centers also open that day. Received our state voter’s guide earlier this week and do not know when the county mails theirs, containing local races and measures. Ugh, despite COVID we still have a crapton of ballot propositions to plow through, including some doozles.
You can still register up to Oct 19 and early voting centers open Oct 24. More voting centers open closer to election day.
https://elections.saccounty.net/ElectionInformation/Pages/InfoUpcomingElect.aspx
I presume other CA counties are similar or the same.
trollhattan
@Martin:
Too bad there’s zero chance anybody was taking video at the “reveal” moment. Oh, wait.
Can you imagine all the panicked phone calls afterward? “Uh, hey, were you taking video at our party? Can you, like, delete it and take it off Facebook? Thanks a lot. And oh, don’t answer any phone calls from the cops.”
WaterGirl
@Barbara: Once you do, add it to the I Voted! thread in the sidebar (and in the hamburger menu on mobile).
You get a pretty sticker! :-)
Miss Bianca
@Martin: Is this the same gender reveal party that caused a fire? Or a *different* one?
JoyceH
Off topic, but I have a book listed for free today, so if Regency romance is your thing, go grab a free one –
https://www.amazon.com/Feather-Fly-Regency-Charades-Book-ebook/dp/B00IMMIUVY/
Miss Bianca
I choose to think of the fact that early voting has started on my birthday as a birthday prezzie for me. Go out there and vote! For me!
Wait…
WaterGirl
@Martin: For real?
J R in WV
@JoyceH:
IS this another novel similar to the magical mystery novels in the world of — was it Jane Austin?
Someone like that.
I enjoyed those quite a bit, have read all of yours in that line so far as I know so far.
Although I never cared much for the famous original novels. Too stiff, and I hate all the classism of England, both back then and today!
J R in WV
WV early in person voting runs from Oct 21 to Oct 31. If it will be like the Primary election last July (IIRC) there will be a voting site in the NE edge of the county, one in the SW edge, and one in the county seat at Hamlin, where we voted in the Primary.
There was no one there but the poll workers when we got there, another couple showed up as we were finishing. It was well done, really, we’ve never had any trouble voting.
ETA to fix it to read better.
OH NOES, I have given up the actual county where I vote~!!!~
Never mind, no voting goin’ on ’round here, not a’tall…!
oatler.
@JoyceH
Here’s some regency food porn for you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCfx98Ei5lM&list=PL43578495DCF519A0&index=19