Early voting in person is available today – Sept 24 – in these states:
Michigan
Minnesota
South Dakota
Vermont
Virginia
Wyoming
Illinois – in SOME COUNTIES*
* Voting absentee in person (a bit of an oxymoron) started on September 9 in Alabama
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Always check your state and county websites for specific information about voting times and voting locations.
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Early voting in person starts on Thursday – Sept 24 – in Michigan.
*Early voting in person starts Sept 24 in Illinois in SOME COUNTIES in Illinois, only at specific locations in those counties. Champaign County, DuPage County, and Kane County for sure, maybe others. Check your local information.
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.
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Remember, if you vote – in person or drop it off or put it in the mail – stop by and post a comment in the I Voted post. It’s in the sidebar on computers and in the hamburger menu on mobile.
If you know the date for early voting, and your state isn’t on one of these lists yet, let me know in the comments:
Maine early voting: October 5 – 30
Ohio starts on October 6
Texas early voting: October 13 – October 30
Rhode Island: October 14
California: October 5 – November 2
Arizona: October 7th
Georgia early voting: October 12 – October 30
Kentucky: October 13th
North Carolina: Oct 15 – 31
Massachusetts early voting starts October 17
New Mexico: Oct 17 – 31
Missouri: September 22
Nevada: October 17 – 30
Colorado: October 19
Florida early voting: October 24 – 31 (Oct 19 in some places!)
Wisconsin: October 20
West Virginia: Oct 21 – Oct 31
Testing is the way out
Omnes Omnibus
WI in person absentee voting starts October 20.
dnfree
Our first day of voting in suburban Chicago is today (Kane County). I won’t be voting today, but I have printed off my sample ballot (which it checks your registration to do). I’m thinking next week. It’s almost twelve miles from my house to the county clerk’s office. But this is extra early voting–regular early voting starts October 19 at many more locations.
gvg
Florida mails it’s absentee/mail in ballots starting today. Mine showed as sent at 2am last night-I woke up with a headache and checked. Quite excited about that. Hope to have it this weekend to do my last research.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
So I don’t know if this has been talked about here, but apparently the Trump campaign plans to challenge the voting results in states. Which isn’t surprising. I’ve also heard that R controlled legislatures could simply award the state’s electoral votes to Trump if they feel the state’s election results were “untrustworthy”.
I heard all of this from my father last night who saw this in an article and he’s been spooked for awhile. I told him the only way that recounts could happen was if the vote margins were a few thousand or less, depending on the state’s laws. I told him Biden is likely going to win. His response was, “I hope you’re right.”
I have a hard time believing a state’s leg could simply award a state’s EC votes to the candidate of their choice. What do you all think?
I’d link the article, but I dismissed it out of hand and so don’t know the title
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Thanks. Can anyone vote absentee, or do you have to have a “reason” besides COVID?
Humanities Prof
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): There have already been some responses to this, but there’s one big reason to be skeptical of this assertion.
Individual states have laws on the books directing how electoral votes are to be awarded. In order to invalidate the election results, the state legislature would first have to change the state’s election laws.
For swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, that would be difficult, if not impossible. Because all 3 states have Democratic governors who would veto proposed election law changes, and Republicans lack the supermajorities required to override vetoes.
The other problem (which I haven’t yet seen anyone bring up) is that attempting to change election law after the election has taken place could potentially run afoul of the ex post facto clause. Now I’m not 100% sure that applies in this instance, but there’s a legal case to be made that the laws that are on the books at the time an election is held are the laws under which that election’s outcome must be determined.
Omnes Omnibus
They can’t. The states all have laws about how votes are counted and electors awarded. They would have to be changed or completely ignored for that scenario to happen. It is baseless Trump bluster meant to fire up his base (See, there is still hope!) and demoralize us (Trump is inevitable. He cannot be beaten.)
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: No reason needed. Or “Because I fucking feel like it.”
WaterGirl
@dnfree: In my Illinois county, there is early voting starting today, Sept 24 through Oct 6 – just at one main location.
Then NO early voting again until Oct 19, and then there is voting at a ton of locations.
I wonder if that’s the same for you.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Excellent!
Mike in NC
Mailed our ballots Sunday night. Got confirmation from the county Board of Elections this morning that they had been received and accepted. So damn easy; every state in the country should have voting by mail.
Omnes Omnibus
@dnfree: If you go drop off your ballot today, you could reward yourself with ice cream at Graham’s and then go play on the cannons in front of the court house.
germy
So Trump stepped out of his bubble and heard the voice of the people
Benw
NY in person early voting is 10/24-11/1. I am impatient!
WaterGirl
I went to vote this morning – first day of in-person voting here. Got there 30 minutes early. There is NEVER a line to vote here, but lots of people already in line.
Unfortunately, they were lining up inside the gymnasium rather than outside. (seems dumb to me, and we have a good Dem in charge of elections, so it’s surprising.)
I wasn’t going to wait in a long line inside, so I sat in my car for 45 minutes. The only people coming-out were the ones frustrated by the long lines. I asked one woman if they had started voting of if everyone was still waiting and she said there were 50-60 people in line, and it was going very slowly because of all the people who had asked for absentee ballots and hadn’t brought them with them.
I have a feeling a lot of people are trying to early vote because of Trump and don’t realize they have to bring their ballot with them if they applied to vote by mail. sigh
I bet they also have new poll workers, too, because maybe some of the older ones aren’t doing it this year.
I left without voting, will try again on Wednesday.
mad citizen
I like to look at the electoral map for solace from time to time. I’m not sure why things are close in any way (which makes me insane), but real clear politics has Biden at 222 “firm” (my term) EC votes now.
Poll averages have Biden leading beyond the error in WI, PA, MI, NV and NH, which total 56 votes (he needs 48 on top of the 222). He’s also leading Ohio by 2.4% and Florida by 1.3%, which have 18 and 29 votes. Those two would take him to 325 EC votes if my math is correct. Go Joe and Kamala!!!
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/2020_elections_electoral_college_map.htm
Responding to watergirl: I remember being in line in 2016 thinking that all these people–most have to be here for Hillary, right? (Wrong for my state). Just have to wonder how many more crazy/stupid/barely literate/suckers and losers are there that can show up to vote for pres. shitshow. (Note to self: calm down, remember…27%).
WaterGirl
If you vote, think about adding a comment in the I Voted! thread (top right or in the hamburger menu on mobile). You get a sticker. :-)
MazeDancer
If you feel safe voting early, please do. We need all the possible ballots counted on Election Night.
Of course, if you don’t feel safe, don’t.
And all your Voting Plans posted here will be illustrated. We have over 90 Illustrated Plans in the sidebar. Just waiting for you to retweet and share to inspire others. Easy Armchair .Activism.
WaterGirl
@mad citizen: The Pod Save America guy say that the electoral college shaves off 4-5% because of the way things are structured, so just barely ahead or even ahead by 5% is not enough for a win.
And that’s not accounting for the cheating and stealing.
We need to win big!
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@WaterGirl:
Not exactly what Trump probably intended, but close enough, by trying to discredit mail-in/absentee voting. What I don’t understand is why he was encouraging his supporters to vote absentee if that was his play
WaterGirl
@MazeDancer: If people look at the illustrated voting plans in the list, can they say “I want the one like so-and-so has”?
mali muso
Posted in the I Voted thread, but DH and I early voted here in Virginia. This is the first election in which we have “no excuse” early voting. I went in person to the local Registrar’s office and had a bittersweet flashback of being there in 2016 filling out my excused absentee ballot (I was 9 months pregnant) for Hillary.
Matt McIrvin
@Humanities Prof: I think the scenario under consideration depends on the Supreme Court becoming so hackish that basically no laws or Constitutional clauses matter. The Republican legislatures don’t legally, in any official sense, declare an alternate slate of electors–they just declare one extralegally and Trump asks the Supreme Court to bless those with the magic wand of legitimacy, and they do it.
Omnes Omnibus
@MazeDancer: Just as a follow onto the we need all ballots counted on election night: In WI, absentee ballots are not counted until election day, but that really means that poll workers spend any moments where there isn’t an in-person voter feeding a ballot into the scanner feeding the absentee ballots in. They want the ballots in and counted as soon as possible.
MazeDancer
@WaterGirl: Absolutely. Custom orders welcome.
All 90 plus use different pics, but happy to repeat winners.
Omnes Omnibus
@Matt McIrvin: Yes, but you are betting on everything failing.
Matt McIrvin
@mad citizen: It’s gotten less comforting–there were recent WaPo polls showing Trump well ahead in both Florida and Arizona. Outliers, but on the other hand that poll is considered higher-quality than most of the others in the pack.
There’s a delay in state poll aggregation, though. I think what we were seeing there was the slight slump in Biden’s national numbers of a couple of weeks ago, which seems to be abating.
Matt McIrvin
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s been a good bet so far!
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@Humanities Prof:
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s what I thought. I tried telling him about the laws on the books for the EC votes, but I guess he thinks that Trump and the GOP are invincible because of all the shit they have gotten away with over the last 3 years with no consequences. Teflon Don!
I can’t exactly blame him for feeling that way, but I don’t think he’s correct. I admit I’ve also let my hair get on fire too
MazeDancer
Can’t imagine what a comfort it is to have Early Voting right now or starting soon. A place to channel one’s rage.
Stand in line for hours? Spend my only day off at the polls? No problem.
Ken
You’re talking about a man who not-infrequently contradicts himself within a span of five sentences.
WaterGirl
@mali muso: You got your sticker. :-)
sheila in nc
@Omnes Omnibus: I wish I knew what exactly people are referring to when they say “counted on Election Day.” There are multiple steps in processing an absentee ballot: establishing whether the submitted ballot was actually voted by the named voter, ensuring that voter hasn’t voted in person or any other way, and only then, tabulating the actual ballot. I can totally see waiting until Election Day for actual tabulation, but what about all the previous validation steps? Please tell me they don’t wait until Election Day to do all that work.
Omnes Omnibus
@Matt McIrvin: No, actually it has not. The ACA vote, special elections, the 2018 election, the WI spring election. If you only look for the bad, you will find lots of it.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@Matt McIrvin:
Then all hell breaks loose. Even in that scenario it doesn’t automatically result in Trump’s victory
germy
WaterGirl
@sheila in nc: It varies state by state.
In Illinois. mail-in ballots cannot be counted until the polls close at 7pm on Nov 3. They can start verifying ballots at some point before that, but no counting.
There are some really good resources about how things are handled state-by-state, please check out the What We Can Do link. It’s in the Election Action! menu in the sidebar, and it’s in the hamburger menu on mobile.
hueyplong
@Mike in NC: Glad that worked for you. Will see my mother (in assisted living in CLT) though that same process. She’s literally living for Nov 3.
mali muso
@WaterGirl: Hooray! Thanks. :) I didn’t get a physical one at the voting site (guess they don’t hand them out for early voting here) so my virtual one is the only one I’ll get.
Omnes Omnibus
@sheila in nc: For the in-person absentee votes, the procedure is exactly the same as at the polling place. You present ID, sign the actual poll book for your ward, and them fill out an optical scan ballot. It is merely sealed in an envelope and sent to the actual polling place to be counted. For the mail-ins, they would just verify the signature and ensure that there was no prior in-person vote and then scan the thing. Volume will be the challenge.
sheila in nc
@mali muso: We are not doing stickers here because pandemic, I assume. Instead, the voter will be handed a personal ball point pen with which to sign the voter affidavit and fill out the ballot. The voter keeps the pen, which is the substitute for the “i voted” sticker.
Kay
Republicans in Congress demand you trust them to rein in Donald Trump. The same people who have caved to every single one of his demands, the same cowards who are too scared to push back against him in any way demand you trust them to control them.
They haven’t earned it, but they demand it anyway. Because they still think they’re entititled to it, as if “trust” is wholly unrelated to their behavior and is an endless savings account where they only make withdrawals but the balance somehow magically stays the same.
Only a crazy person would trust these people. They have earned nothing.
They promise they’ll stand up for the country. Eventually. When it gets bad enough. And we’re all supposed to believe that.
Not one of them made a peep when he was lying on covid and killing people with his lies. Why would this be any different? They’ve already done the worst. They allowed him to kill people.
Haroldo
@Omnes Omnibus:
Michael’s Custard for you.
Almost Retired
Once upon a time, I was resistant to early voting, on the theory that so much happens in the final days of the campaign that I would be casting my vote with incomplete information. No more. Every day that passes after election day without a final result is a new opportunity for these aspiring autocrats to devise a new scheme to steal the election. So I am voting on October 5. It helps that California has a jungle primary, so the real choice in my liberal district (Ted Lieu) was earlier this year at the primary level (progressive vs. progressive enough, is the usual choice).
MomSense
I mentioned in the morning thread that I signed up to be an election monitor. I’m going to get training and then be assigned to a polling location.
Mousebumples
My vote (absentee ballot) is officially accepted for counting on November 3. I also posted in the other thread.
My understanding is that, per wisconsin state law, no ballots can be tallied until election day, but the administration stuff (marking your ballot as received – including online for tracking purposes, verifying you have your signature and a witness with address on the absentee envelope, etc.) can all be done ahead of time.
Per my dad (poll worker in Wisconsin for the past few years), it’s not easy to run the absentee or early ballots through the machine because of the creases from how it’s folded in the envelope. He handled most of the absentee ballots for the August primary since he’s the only registered Democrat poll worker in his Washington County precinct. (He was solid Republican, for his entire life, but changed his registration with Trump’s nomination.)
mad citizen
@WaterGirl: I think that is correct when one looks at a national Biden/orangestain poll, so like 538 now shows Biden ahead 7.4
(https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/national/).
I was looking at the individual state poll averages on real clear politics and putting the good ones for Biden in his column.
I saw an article the other day pointing out that in some swing states Biden is moving over 50%, which of course means he wins (that whole trump can never get over 44% or so idea).
WaterGirl
@Mousebumples: Thanks for posting your vote in the I Voted! thread. You have officially been stickered.
J R in WV
Our voting plan is to go to the county courthouse on the second day of early voting. We need to take care of some typical courthouse business, renewing things and paying property taxes, and then go to vote. Second day because first day will (I expect) have more voters as pent up urge to vote works itself out. Will be wearing 3M industrial respirators, both of us.
I found that the place I ordered additional filters from now has the mask itself in multiple sizes! So I ordered one for wife! Next week she has a dentist appointment and a doctor’s appointment, so we’ll try out the mask for fit. I hope it isn’t too uncomfortable for her. Mine gets uncomfy after an hour or so… but not intolerable. Sometimes I feel like I really need to blow my nose, and if I take it off, that goes away before I can get a handkerchief out. So that is not a real thing, just in my head, heh.
mad citizen
@Kay: Well said! Shorter: F Ben Sasse with a Nebraska corncob!
Mousebumples
No problem! Thanks for coordinating this. By the way, we both got I Voted! stickers in the envelope with our ballot. I’m debating when to wear mine.
In related news, my newest RBG shirt should be arriving today. I may end up ordering more, but… One at a time, for now.
Almost Retired
@MomSense: Me too — I staff a bank of lawyers available to answer questions for people in the field. Did it in Ohio in 2016 and Nevada in 2008 and 2012 and again this year. Most of the training was about how to correctly pronounce “Nevada.”
PST
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): The article that is getting all the attention is “The Election That Could Break America” In The Atlantic, which has been on fire recently both with respect to COVID and Trump. It is well worth reading in its entirety, even if you don’t buy all the arguments. The danger doesn’t depend on the measures adopted by the state legislatures being legal ones that will force us to say, “Too bad. Check and mate. I guess they’ve got us.” It is a chaos-based strategy designed to allow the party in control of the mechanisms of government to maintain control and put out at least a specious argument why it is entitled to do so. It would be more dangerous if Trump were smarter and more capable of formulating and executing a complicated plan.
Karen
1. How about early voting for Maryland?
2. Trump and his people are looking into contingency plans bypassing the election and they’re not unconstitutional. What’s our next step?
Matt McIrvin
@Omnes Omnibus: In Massachusetts, when you do early in-person voting you have to sign the envelope, so presumably the same signature-matching step is happening as for a mail ballot. That matters if people are trying to avoid their ballot being rejected for signature-matching reasons, which I’ve heard cited as a reason not to vote by mail.
Matt McIrvin
@Almost Retired: I find that the stuff that happens in the final days of the campaign tends to subtract knowledge rather than adding it. Being able to vote before all of that is an informational advantage.
yellowdog
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): It has been done before, although not for corrupt reasons. A couple of times a state was admitted at a time too close to have an election. It is in the Constitution. The question is who controls which electors are allowed to participate in the Electoral College vote. If there is nothing in state law that the electors chosrn by the voters must be seated, I believe the pissants can do whatever they damn well please. Anyway the point is to cause legal delay so that the electors can’t vote and the election is thrown to the House. Even if it is the next Congress, there is a very, very narrow path to gaining a Dem majority in House delegations. The delegations are currently 25 R to 24 D and one tie. Which happens to be Pennsylvania. So it all comes down to PA.
Matt McIrvin
@Karen: The methods they’re looking at are unconstitutional, by any sane metric. They’re talking about rejecting the slates of electors prescribed by state election law.
They’re just not unconstitutional in the sense that if you have a puppet Supreme Court you can order around, anything you do is constitutional.
Mousebumples
Not all states have signature matching. To the best of my knowledge wisconsin doesn’t. I asked how I could see what signature they had on file for me (I’ve only been married 2 years and my signature is still evolving since I took my married name), and I was told there was no signature validation.
Almost Retired
@Matt McIrvin:
Not to mention the psychological well-being advantage to early voting….
Matt McIrvin
@Almost Retired: In 2016, the entire episode with Comey’s letter about the Podesta emails happened after I voted. I was glad I’d already done it. If more people had been able and willing to vote early, maybe things would have turned out differently.
WaterGirl
Since Trump’s supporters have no problem with him being a fraud and a bully and downright evil, I’m thinking we need to focus a narrative that Trump is weak and afraid.
That may be the only thing that can reach them.
MrSnrub
Our PA county (suburban Philadelphia) notified us on Monday that they were about to mail out our ballots, and to expect them in 10-14 days from then.
Apparently the ballot will include a “security envelope” and a mailing envelope. All ballots need to be put into the security envelope, which is then put inside the mailing envelope. Any ballot not following this procedure will be disallowed, which is worrisome.
The county has also published a list of drop box locations where ballots can be dropped off without needing to use USPS – but everyone has to drop off their own ballot.
WhatsMyNym
@MrSnrub:
That’s how WA does it, and you have to sign the outside of the envelope. I don’t remember any big problem when we switched to all mail-in.
Chris Sherbak
@dnfree: Verified – many Cook County locations (dates/times & wait time check!) mostly start 10/19: https://www.cookcountyclerk.com/service/early-voting-locations
Marcopolo
We’ve now surpassed 500,000 votes cast for the election. The percentage by party where party affiliation is known is ~54% D; ~30% I; ~16% R
Also Texas added 1.5M voters since 2018. Very impressive.
Texas shatters voter registration records again as Trump-Biden election draws closer
There is a good chance we hit 60% turnout (yeah, that really doesn’t seem all that high, right?) for the first time since 1968.
Ken
@Marcopolo: From your Texas story, cheerful words:
Ted Cruz: ‘Texas is a battleground’
psycholinguist
@Marcopolo: 2018 Midterm was highest in over 100 years with ~50% turnout. About as many people voted Democrat in that midterm as voted for Trump in the presidential. Democrats had a 9% advantage in house races, so that’s tracking nicely with current national polls for Biden. History says yes, 60%+.
Maybe the silver lining with Trump is the massive new voter registrations and turnout. Voting once is a good predictor you’ll vote again.
patrick II
@Humanities Prof:
Florida was ready to seat its own Republican loyal electors in 2000 if the vote or Supreme Court decision didn’t come out to Republican liking. Florida still has Republicans in charge, so it could happen again in a close race.
patrick II
@germy:
Previously, in court, Florida had asserted their attempt at debt collection was not a poll tax because it had nothing to do with the election. Now, conversely, that the debts are being paid, Florida is asserting that it has something to do with the election after all so payment would be interfering with the election.
Whatever side of the argument works for keeping people from voting.
patrick II
@Goku (Amerikan Baka):
Because he has convinced many of his followers that being afraid of COVID isn’t manly, (see I’m not wearing a mask, unlike that chicken Biden). So, it is projected that many more Republicans will vote personally and thus on the night of the election he will be ahead in the count, declare victory, and claim the as yet uncounted mail-in and absentee ballots are fake ballots brought in late to overthrow the true winner of the election (him). He will then go to court to have those ballots thrown out while he is still holding the imprimatur of the presidency and Nov 3 self-declared winner of the election. He expects his Supreme Court to stand by him in this effort as they did for Bush in 2020.
Salty Sam
Slightly OT, but I just want to announce that I and the spouse have just made the decision to fly back to Texas from Puerto Rico to participate in in-person early voting. We do not trust that our absentee ballot (which we STILL haven’t received) would be counted. This decision was prompted by discussions here and other forums, the question being “To what length are you willing to go to preserve our democracy?”
Until now, I’ve been Team Broken Glass all the way, and considered that absentee voting would be sufficient. But that Gellman piece in The Atlantic yesterday shook me badly, and I’m not willing to let go of any power I might still have to ensure my vote is counted. I’ve never been easily spooked, but the last 4 years have done it.
ETA- thanks to comments here and postings elsewhere that pointed out that “apocalyptic porn” is not reality, and we STILL outnumber them. The only way we lose is if we give up.
WaterGirl
@Salty Sam: Big decision, good for you! Stay safe.
J R in WV
@Salty Sam:
Dawg bless you for not only making the extreme effort you describe, but also for talking about it here, where everyone who reads a perhaps-nearly-top-10,000 blog will see it, and take heart from it.
Wear a mask while in transit, and do some fun things once you’re in TX to vote. Be really careful, and vote as soon as you hit TX during working hours. I just have to drive 20 or 30 minutes to the rural county seat to vote, and we will be wearing masks, industrial grade filters and all~!~
OT: Just a few minutes ago I found that one of the big puppies had obtained a heavy foil envelope with a pair of high-end 3M filters inside last night. Not only did she open up the envelope, she opened up one of the 2 filter packs, so ruined as personal protective equipment now… but it is interesting to see the very folded filter material, a stiff paper-like product, folded to get more square inches of filtration, to make it possible to breathe through for hours. I originally bought the respirator at a local building supply yard, but they no longer have them, so I get replacement filter packs on Amazon, through John Cole’s link.
Search for “3M Multi Gas/Vapor Cartridge/Filter 60926, P100 Respiratory Protection” to find both the mask and the filters. I like mine, I have used it for years now. I look like an astronaut from Mars, but who cares. When I’m out shopping, many people remark “That guy’s safe for sure…” and they are right!
MazeDancer
@Salty Sam:
Huge props to you.
Friend of mine flew from LA to NYC and was fine She had a mask, face shield, gloves, extra gloves, tons of hand sanitizer. She wiped down her seat with Clorox wipes. And changed gloves – after hand sanitizing – every time she felt necessary.
Feel certain you will be fine.
Please report every step of the way here, so we can cheer you on,
Feel like your Illustrated Plan should be gold-rimmed, but will do the best I can. May give you two, One for you, one for SaltySamSpouse. Least I can do.
Jean
planned to vote today, Friday, in VA, Chesterfield Co., but then it poured all morning, so I brought my umbrella and stood in line. I was determined to stick to my plan! Not a long line, and I have my sticker! Then, for good measure, I got my flu shot.
Really sorry to hear Northam and First Lady have tested positive for COVID. Contracted it from a staffer. First Lady is experiencing “mild” symptoms; Northam is thus far, symptom-free.
planetjanet
I received my absentee ballot here in Virginia the same day early voting locations opened, September 18. It took some time to research and make my mind up on Amendment 1, a redistricting reform. Finally voted no as it was quite watered down. I took my ballot to the early voting location on Monday the 28th and handed it in. Fantastic service, I never had to get out of the car. They waved to a line, stamped my envelope, stamped a receipt and gave to me and then held out a ballot box for me to place my envelope. Felt like concierge service.