E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSElection Day may be Nov. 6th, but with President Obama grabbing a lead nationally and in key swing states, Americans are already starting to vote.
Idaho, South Dakota, and the crucial swing state of Virginia are the first states to begin early, in-person voting today.
Also today, absentee voting begins in Minnesota, West Virginia, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Georgia, Arkansas, Idaho, and Maryland, bringing the total number of states already accepting ballots to 13. Twelve others -- South Carolina, New Jersey, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Delaware, Louisiana, and Missouri -- will begin absentee or early voting Saturday.
That means, by tomorrow, half the country will be casting votes. By the end of the month, voters in 30 states will be voting already.
More than one-in-three voters – more than 46 million people -- is expected to vote early in 2012 in some form, either in person, by mail, or absentee, according to Dr. Michael McDonald, a professor at George Mason University who studies voter behavior.
“Once you turn up the faucet on early voting, you keep turning it up until it’s all the way open,” said McDonald, who predicts that 35 percent will vote early this year.
Early voting participation has been on the rise in recent election cycles, hitting an all-time high in 2008, when an estimated 30 percent voted early in the presidential election. That was up significantly from 2004, when slightly more than 20 percent cast their ballots ahead of Election Day.
Early voting can, and often does, mean different things in different states.
In 32 states and Washington, D.C., voters can cast their ballots early, in person without any excuse or reason, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In 21 states, like Virginia, voters can vote absentee, but an excuse is required. Some of the acceptable excuses listed on the Virginia absentee ballot application include commuting for 11 or more hours between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Election Day, being away from home due to personal or business travel, or being a student.
States like Connecticut and New Hampshire do not have early, in-person voting, but do allow voters to return their absentee ballots in person to election officials.
Oregon and Washington State are exclusively vote-by-mail. In 2008, 100 percent of Oregon voters voted by mail or dropped their ballots in boxes at designated locations on Election Day. Washington has been adopting vote-by-mail, county-by-county since 1994, but, in 2011, it went completely by mail.
Colorado has also been moving to vote-by-mail, and, in 2008, four-in-five Coloradans voted that way.
Controversial changes in Florida and Ohio
Early voting laws in several states have also changed in the past four years – and not without controversy, particularly in Florida and Ohio.
In Florida, a state where half of its voters voted early in 2008, the number of days for early, in-person voting has been reduced from 14 to eight (HB 1355) – and voting on the Sunday before the election was eliminated.
Republicans control the governorship and the state legislature, and Democrats have cried foul, especially about the elimination of the Sunday voting. Black churches in particular have made it a point of mobilizing on that day in what’s known as “Souls to the Polls.”
Five of Florida’s 67 counties fall under a national voter-rights law that mandates approval of any changes to election laws by the Department of Justice because of a history of racial discrimination.
The Justice Department approved the measure on the condition that the state keep the early, in-person polling centers in those counties open 12 hours each day, which is the maximum allowed by the state’s constitution.
In July, the Obama campaign filed a lawsuit against Ohio Secretary of State John Husted regarding changes in the state’s early, in-person voting policies.
Legislation, passed in 2011 (HB 194) by a GOP-controlled legislature and signed by a Republican governor, shortened the early, in-person voting period from beginning 35 days before the election to starting 21 days prior.
The legislation also included a provision ending early, in-person voting three days prior to the election for everyone except members of the military. Pressure from local voter’s rights coalitions prompted the legislature to repeal parts of its new voting laws. Senate Bill 295 was passed to repeal specific parts of HB 194, but left intact the provision ending early in-person voting three days prior to the start of the election for everyone except members of the military.
The Obama campaign argued this new law was unfair and violated the equal-protection clause of the constitution. A federal court agreed and ordered the state to restore the three days of early, in-person voting for all voters.
In 2008, Democrats dominated early voting. This time around, McDonald said, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign and Republicans are making a concerted effort to mobilize early voters as well.
“2012 is not going to be 2008,” McDonald said, “so we should expect to see more parity among partisan profiles of early voters.”
Here’s the full calendar of when voting starts in each state:
September:
Sept. 6: North Carolina: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Sept. 17:
Kentucky: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Indiana: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Sept. 20:
Wisconsin: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Sept. 21:
West Virginia: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Oklahoma: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
South Dakota: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Georgia: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Arkansas: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Idaho: Absentee, ends Nov. 2
Maryland: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Minnesota: Absentee begins
Sept. 22:
South Carolina: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
New Jersey: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Maine: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Michigan: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Mississippi: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
New Hampshire: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Tennessee: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Texas: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Vermont: Absentee, ends Nov. 6; Early in-person, ends Nov. 5
Delaware: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Virginia: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Louisiana: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Missouri: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Sept. 27:
Alabama: Absentee, ends Nov. 5
Wyoming: Absentee, ends Nov. 6; Early in-person, ends Nov. 5
North Dakota: Absentee, ends Nov. 5
Iowa: Absentee, ends Nov. 5; Early in-person, ends Nov.5
Illinois: Absentee, ends Nov. 5
October
Oct. 1:
Washington, DC: Absentee, ends Nov 6
Nebraska: Absentee, ends Nov. 6; Early in-person, ends Nov. 5
October 2:
New York: Absentee, ends Nov. 5
Ohio: Absentee, ends Nov. 5; Early in-person, ends Nov. 2* (Secretary of State's website still lists ending Nov. 2, but the court decision would indicate that it would be extended through Election Day.)
Florida: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Oct. 5:
Connecticut: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Oct. 8:
California: Absentee, ends Nov. 6; Early in-person, ends Nov.5
Oct. 9:
Indiana: Early in-person, ends Nov. 5
Rhode Island: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
New Mexico: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Montana: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Utah: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Oct. 11: Arizona: Absentee, ends Nov. 6; Early in-person, ends Nov. 2
Oct. 12: Alaska: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Oct. 15:
Colorado: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Georgia: Early in-person, ends Nov.2
Oct. 16:
Massachusetts: Absentee; ends Nov. 6
Oct. 17:
Kansas: Absentee, ends Nov. 6; Early in-person, ends Nov. 5
Nevada: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Hawaii: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Tennessee: Early in-person, ends Nov.1
Oct. 18: North Carolina: Early in-person, ends Nov. 3
Oct. 19:
Oregon: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Washington: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Oct. 20:
Nevada: Early in-person, ends Nov. 2
New Mexico: Early in-person, ends Nov. 3
Oct. 22:
Alaska: Early in-person, ends Nov. 5
Arkansas: Early in-person, ends Nov. 5
Illinois: Early in-person, ends Nov. 3
North Dakota: Early in-person, ends Nov. 5
Colorado: Early in-person, ends Nov. 2
Washington D.C.: Early in-person, Nov. 3
Texas: Early in-person, ends Nov. 2
Wisconsin: Early in-person, ends Nov. 2
Oct. 23:
Utah: Early in-person, ends Nov. 2
Hawaii: Early in-person, ends Nov. 3
Louisiana: Early in-person, ends Nov. 30
Pennsylvania: Absentee, ends Nov. 6
Oct. 24:
West Virginia: Early in-person, ends Nov. 3
Oct. 27:
Maryland: Early in-person, ends Nov. 1
Florida: Early in-person, ends Nov. 3
November
Nov. 2:
Oklahoma: Early in-person, ends Nov. 5
SOURCE: Early Voting Information Center at Reed College
Leave a Comment:
Obama - dreams of Moo cheel:
Steal 800 billion dollar in stimulus money from the America Tax Payers to give to
himself and friends
Does it occur to anyone that this early voting, while a blessing to those who may be travelling near Nov. 6, may also pervert the election process and ultimately render Elaction Day as only a deadline?
Our current circus of multi-year nomination campaigning, combination rock concert - revival meeting conventions, and endless political ads advocating issues with $millions, if not $billions of air time which never reveal who paid for their production of airing. I especially enjoy the Natural Gas industry ads saying that they are the truly clean alternative to "Clean Coal." Or the ads against "Obama-care" because it was a middle-of-the-night deal struck behind closed doors, despite well over a week of virtually around the clock TELEVISED negotiations. Or the other anti "Obama-care" commercials complaining about the raw deals that doctors and hospitals would receive from Medicare cuts, despite the fact that the Ryan budget proposal made virtually the same cuts, while expecting seniors to make up the difference by buying the Part C Supplemental insurance. And who sponsored those ads? The insurance industry lobby.
I can see it now, a happy voter who is satisfied that he/she has done her/his civic duty, only to then watch the candidate self-immolate in a fit of incoherency with a debate moderator over a pre-approved question.
And, since we continue add greater obstacles to in-person voting - the ID requirements, poll locations and polling hours in the name of combatting voter fraud; Who really fills in those absentee ballots? Especially the ones provided to nursing homes and rehabillitation centers?
How sad is it that in the end, the only hope the Republicans have of winning, is to prevent the people from voting.
Obama's Greatest Hits
Page 1: Osama bin Laden
Page 2.
A timeline of the Obama administration reads like the
autobiography of a baby born on the Titanic, who hitches
a ride back to Europe on the Lusitania, only to catch a
flight to New Jersey on the Hindenburg and transfer onto
the sinking deck of the Andrea Doria.
Obama went from handing the keys to the treasury out to
the cell phone monkeys on Wallstreet, to allowing the
call center mortgage manhandlers to foreclose on a fifth
of the homeowners in America, to dumping a dead solid
perfect victory out on the streets of Baghdad,
to selling AK47s to the Drug Lords of Mexico, to waiting
month in and month out without doing a damn thing for
British Petroleum to turn the Gulf of Mexico into a
sludge pool, to dumping 500 million tax dollars down the
Solyndra sump hole, to letting the Taliban back stab the
American military through America's supposed allies in the
Afghan Army, as Obama and company stood around with their
hands in their pockets while an idiot excon started a new
Jihad with a minicam.
Obama's one highlight has been a popup, gift wrapped by
the CIA and caught for him by the Navy Seals.
This administration has pitched from one disaster to
another, and not one Democrat is willing to suggest that
it might be the fool at the helm. While Americans moon
over Obama's pretentious vocabulary, they all pretend
they are not watching the Kaiser lead Germany to its own
annihilation. How many strikeouts do you give Steve
Erckle before you put in a pinch hitter?
Early Voting = Voting Fraud.
Voter fraud isn't going to happen by millions of illegal voters showing up to vote early. If we have voter fraud -- it will be done electronically.
I wish all you tea-bagging right wing repugnicant, already-in-denial (Romnuts is gonna win, you'll see, the polls are all wrong!!) NUTJOBS would buy some q-tips and clean out your nostrils... That way you could smell the bulls@#%t you keep trying to sell here. Please, go to Faux news, and sell it there. You'll find people there willing to eat your smelly crap.
Tomorrow, those that have common sense and want to see our country move forward, will vote Mittens and the rest of the obstructionist GOP morons OUT!!! And not soon enough... "Fuggetabouit"
Obama-Biden 2012
Last night, after seeing and hearing the lovely seniors coming out of Paul Ryan's AARP meeting in FLORIDA, I know Obama is in GREAT shape!
One lovely man, if he were a King, would have said about Mitt Romney's 47%, OFF WITH HIS HEAD!
Americans are dying and you are being lied to about it!
Get It???
USA! USA! USA!
Good Bye Obama!
Hah...! What planet does your news come from...? Romulus...?
Don't vote for 'Socialism', Plutocracy', or 'Corporate Fascism'! You don't need to support Democrats or Republicans (the 'Washington Establishment'), the Elite financial Masters are taking care of that.
Write in Ron Paul! He may be an opportunity we will never see again...sans a Revolution.
Henry Kissinger a few years back was reported saying- Obama is being groonmed to be the leader of the New World Order.
This week Henry Kissinge was reported say theer will be NO Israel in 10 Years.
The Bible does not say this! Israel will always BE!
Americans are dying and you are being lied to about it!
You sound Iranian.
Now Obama is saying you can't change Washington from the inside, you have to do it from the outside.
Have you seen the New Obama American Flag??
Really????
Americans are dying and you are being lied to about it!
Is that you Ahmadinejad ?
Get the socialist liar out of the White House - 2012 Romney/Ryan
so...did Obama release those college transcripts yet?
Michelle Obama: "All this for a damn flag??!!"
No ID required to vote. I will vote for my wife too because, she is too lazy to go out to vote.
You have to give money to poor folks or they might shoot you while robbing you. Mitt's plan of only giving money to rich white folks does not work.
50 states and 50 laws. States with low population get one extra Elector, giving much more power to them.
Actual facts and population figures from the 2010 census (used for a decade of elections):
Wyoming 532,981; D.C. 590,074; Vermont 621,049; North Dakota 641,421; Alaska 688,125; South Dakota 804,532; Delaware 876,211; Montana 968,035; Rhode Island 1,053,502; Hawaii 1,287,481; Maine 1,319,691.
That's 10 states plus D.C. They have all tolled 36 electors. Their population is 9,383,105 all totaled. Let's see what side state should have as many as 36 electors: it would be somewhere in the ballpark of Florida, New York, or Texas. That's 29 Electors, 29 Electors, and 38 Electors. Just think what you can get for less than 10 million voters in most states: North Carolina and Georgia have 15 and 16 Electors respectively.
We do not have a democratic voting system in the United States of America. I wish we did.
Romney is a draft dodger, tax dodger, flip-flopper, liar, say anything to get elected
Romney and Ryan are the clowns that will laugh all the way to the bank, when they get the 47% Republicans to vote for them, while they cut taxes for themselves and the very rich
Romney is a scum bag, who ships jobs overseas, ships his money overseas,
Romney hate the American worker, American Woman,
Romney is a puppet for the very rich , the KOCH Brothers, Carl Rove, Dick Army
This is your chance now to insure we finally get rid of the socialist Obama and his crew of morons. If you still believe all of the BS Obama has tossed out over more than 3 years, you should vote for him again! If you feel in your heart and wallet he has made your life better for you and your children, you should vote for him again!
If you feel Obama has delivered on all of his promises and was truthful about transparency and providing more jobs and a better economy, you should vote for Obama again!
If you are a moron and imbecile like left wing nuts Tracey Stephens who has a feeble brain and like most far left liberals won't face reality because of their large egos, you should vote for Barry the "weed puffer, the entertainer-in-chief, the-liar-in-chief, the welfare-in-chief and the greatest BS artists in the past century!
I could care less if you re-elected this moron or not! I don't require a handout from the government and take pride in working to gain success instead of being a parasite for those who have the capability to get ahead but would rather sit on their duff's and let the taxpayers support them.
There are some Americans who need a helping hand sometimes but today there are too many who want to sponge off of others! Obozo has created the massive welfare because he wants you to depend of the government because he is a socialist! Get your head out of it and toss this idiot out of office in Nov!!
If you want to confuse a liberal nut, just give them the facts! Where is your masiah today? Is he hanging around with the "pimp with the limp?" This is your idol who took off to Vegas after the killing of our Ambassador to Libya along with other brave Americans! This is your rockstar and worthless piece of garbage who continues to lie, cheat, do the backroom deals, think he should have total control of all three branches of our government, and a total idiot hell bent of getting your lousy vote to continue his agenda to change our constitution to fit his radical socialist/communist policies. How is the hope and change going for you??
The American Communist Party has a web site - please visit there and see their endorsement of 1 Presidential candidate.
I did and they certainly didn't endorse President Obama...did the voices in your head play a practical joke on you this morning?
I like to fire people, GOOD BYE MITT, the party is over.
It's conceivable that some of you make a conscious decision to view things through a spectrum that skews the actual meaning of the content. As most of us are part of the 47% - that's a fact. I would rather be part of the 53% but the path that we're on now only leads to the 53% becoming part of the 47% for which this administration wants to turn into the 99%. Let's change horses - I"m sure if we get tired of being a successful country again, we can return to this night mare in four years.
It's a fact the republicans haven't done much the last four years but use the filibuster. The prior eight years they ran the country to the ground. Why in the world would anyone want this party to rule, they've been on vacation for twelve years.
And who was in charge of the house from 2006 to 2010? Senate from 2004 to present? That would be the Demoncrats. Republicans didn't f everything up all by themselves. They had alot of help.
The 47%'s who will never change their mind will vote for Obama before hearing a debate.
Get all the facts & then vote.
Why do we need this much time to cast a vote?
Or is this vote early & often, a democrat thing?