DemDaily: The Status of Early Voting in Your State
September 17, 2024
The early voting process for the presidential election -- now just 49 days away -- has begun!
The critical battleground state of Pennsylvania cast the first ballots of 2024 on Tuesday, with Minnesota, Virginia, Vermont, and Illinois scheduled to commence this month.
Other states including Delaware, Kentucky and North Carolina have already mailed out their absentee ballots.
| Forty-seven states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands provide early voting in which a qualified voter may cast their ballots in person at a polling place prior to an election. |
Eight states -- California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Nevada, Vermont, Utah, Washington -- and D.C., run elections primarily by mail but offer early in-person voting options for voters who need or prefer it.
Just three states -- Alabama, Mississippi and New Hampshire -- do not offer early in-person voting, although may provide options for eligible absentee voters.
22 states offer voting on Saturday, with another seven allowing local election officials to decide whether to offer Saturday voting.
Nine states allow for Sunday voting, while another eight allow local election officials to offer Sunday voting.
While citizens in the five inhabited US territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the US Virgin Islands do vote in presidential primaries, they do not have representation in the Electoral College -- rendering their vote more symbolic than consequential.
By The Numbers
US voters have seen unprecedented expansion in their ability to vote early in person and by mail since the coronavirus pandemic historically disrupted the voting process for almost every state four years ago.
According to The Center for Election Innovation and Research, just 40% of voters had access to early voting in 2000 -- either in person or by mail. Now, at least 97% have the option to vote before Election Day.
The elections of 2018, 2020 and 2022 were three of the highest-turnout US.elections of their respective types in decades, according to Pew Research,
The 2018 election, at 49% turnout, had the highest rate for a midterm since 1914, and about two-thirds (66%) of the voting-eligible population turned out for the 2020 presidential election – the highest rate for any national election since 1900.
In the 2020 election, held during the first year of COVID, 46% of voters said they cast their ballots by absentee or mail-in ballot, while 26% said they in person before election day, and 28% said they voted in on Election Day.
| Military and overseas ballots, which must be sent 45 days before Election Day, were mailed on September 21. Each state determines its own voter registration deadlines. Check VoteFromAbroad.org for more information. |
The 2022 election’s turnout, at 46%, exceeded that of all midterm elections since 1970. 43% of voters said they cast their ballot in person on Election Day, while 36% said they cast an absentee or mail-in ballot, and 21% voted in person before Election Day.
Early estimates are that a minimum of 45%-50% are expected to vote prior to Election Day 2024.
Watch Your Vote
While access to the polls has grown significantly nationally, a dozen predominantly red states have passed more than 30 new voting restrictions -- from voter ID requirements to limits on mail-in voting and polling locations.
Despite efforts by Republican groups to get GOP voters to embrace early voting, former President Donald Trump continues to assail the process as an attempt by Democrats to defraud conservative votes.
DemList will keep you informed.
Check Voting Resources in Your State! IWillVote.org
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Kimberly Scott
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State voter information is drawn from multiple resources, which vary. Let us know if there are updates!
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Sources:Vote.org, US Vote Foundation, Ballotpedia, NCSL, AARP, Center for Election Innovation & Research, Target Smart, Pew, Secretaries of State, CBS
