The “election” ends on November 8
Calls for Donald Trump to step aside in the wake of the #trumpTapes scandal are not anchored in reality.
Voting has begun, and it’s a distributed (local) process.
That means ballots have been printed and distributed (even if it’s an electronic distribution).
The only consistent requirement is that the last day/time to vote is 8 pm (local time) on Tuesday, November 8. That’s when the election is “over” and when ballots can be counted.
But millions of Americans can already vote, and for them, the election has begun.
Voted early today. Make sure you vote too: https://t.co/SUUmUADsHj pic.twitter.com/NMesNhwsaG
— President Obama (@POTUS44) October 7, 2016
Americans living overseas and Americans who are service voters can get their ballots 45 days prior to the election. Citizens in states with early voting have also begun to vote. And some states have de facto early voting by having no-excuse absentee voting.
Early voting start dates
Unless otherwise indicated, these early voting start dates are from the US Vote Foundation.
| Su | M | Tu | W | Th | F | Sa |
| Sept 23 Minnesota South Dakota Vermont |
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| Sep 29 Illinois Iowa Wyoming |
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| Oct 3 | ||||||
| Oct 9 Maine |
Oct 10 Guam Nebraska |
Oct 11 Montana New Mexico |
Oct 12 Arizona Indiana Ohio |
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| Oct 17 Georgia |
Oct 19 Tennessee |
Oct 20 North Carolina |
Oct 21 Washington |
Oct 22 D.C. Nevada |
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| Oct 24 Alaska Arkansas Colorado* Idaho Massachusetts Texas |
Oct 25 Hawaii Louisiana Utah |
Oct 26 West Virginia |
Oct 27 Maryland |
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| Nov 1 Kansas |
Nov 3 Oklahoma |
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| Nov 8 Everyone else |
* In Colorado, every voter now receives a ballot in the mail.
Early voting varies by locality
American Samoa, California (approximately 30 days), Florida (October 24-29), New Jersey, North Dakota, Oregon (ballots mailed 2-3 weeks before November 8), Washington (some counties are allowing all voters access to overseas/service voter ballot system, which opened September 23), Wisconsin
No universal early voting
These states have no formal early voting system or have restrictions on who can vote early using an absentee ballot.
Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virgin Islands, Virginia
NPR estimates that 1-in-3 ballots will be cast “early” in this election.
Trump’s October surprise, however, is not a reason to dub early voting a bad idea.
At this risk of repeating the comments of others, the past 24 hours show why early voting is stupid.
— Pejman Yousefzadeh ????? ???? ???? (@Yousefzadeh) October 8, 2016
So the next time you see a news article or pundit talking about “election day” as though it were an on-off switch, point them here, would ya?
Learn more about voting in your state from vote.org.
In this series
- Is cheating on your wife a GOP secret handshake?
- Trump issues video apology, closes with attack on Clinton
- Tracking Trump’s Support Among Women
- The “election” is not on November 8
- The “GOP should ditch Trump” meme won’t happen. Here’s why.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com