For this year, more than 100,000 people have voted absentee so far, which is close to 20 percent ahead of the participation numbers from the same time four years ago.
Advertisement
Approximately 4.9 million people have cast ballots under early voting that has begun in more than half of the states, including major states such as Florida, Ohio, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Colorado. Like Georgia and North Carolina, Florida is another battleground state where Clinton is ramping up her campaign. State election officials said Election Day polling places in at least a half-dozen counties are so damaged they may not be usable on November 8.
But it’s not just anyone turning out early: Democratic women voters in key battleground states are stepping up in early voting, casting votes in disproportionate numbers when compared to both Republican women and male voters. Registered Democrats have since surpassed Republicans in the state. At this point in 2012, Democrats had a narrower 38 percent to 35 percent lead, according to Catalist. Across the state, but especially in the urban centers of Charlotte, Raleigh, Fayetteville, and Winston-Salem, voters waited for hours to cast a ballot.
Early voting is showing more hopeful signs for Republicans in parts of the Midwest.
The coalition has been keeping tabs on preparations for Monday’s early voting launch. That event will feature a taco truck and activities for children within walking distance of an early voting site. Ted Cruz, who’s holding rallies at Reno and Elko schools along with Heck. While many of those laws have been overturned by federal courts, Sabrina Khan, an attorney with the Advancement Project, said early voting options are still not clear in several counties with large communities of color.
Alternatively, residents can sign and return paper registration forms by mail; forms that are postmarked by October 24 will be accepted. To vote absentee, a South Carolinian must meet certain criteria – having to work on Election Day, for instance, or being age 65 or older.
Each worker records and tallies any write-in votes, and passes the ballots to an outside bipartisan state-certified vendor who, on Election Day, counts the paper ballots.
Voters’ pamphlets are also available online, at Seattle and King County libraries, and at the King County Elections office in Renton.
Advertisement
North Carolina’s beleaguered voters do have a few things working to their advantage: Early voting lasts 17 days, and voters have until November 1 to request an absentee ballot. The S.C. Republican Party has mailed more than 250,000 forms to request an absentee ballot application to “known Republicans” in the Palmetto State, said Chairman Matt Moore. Clerks will begin mailing out the requested early ballots on October 24.
