MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Democratic and Republican caucuses are a memory, the first and perhaps only debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is in the bag, and election offices are starting to send out absentee ballots.
Now come the voters.
Friday marks the start of early voting for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, which begins in Virginia, South Dakota and Minnesota, the home state of Harris’ candidate, Gov. Tim Walz.
The first in-person ballots come just over six weeks before Election Day on November 5. About a dozen other states will follow with early voting by mid-October.
“If I could wave a magic wand in this room right now, I would like to do two things: between November 5th, I want to see high turnout and low drama,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said at a news conference Thursday. which showcased his state’s efforts during the election season. Simon also serves as president of the National Association of State Secretaries.
Across the country, local election managers are ramping up their security to keep their workers and polling places safe while ensuring that ballots and voting procedures are not tampered with. Officials and ordinary election workers have been subject to harassment and even death threats since the 2020 presidential election.
Federal authorities are investigating the origin of suspicious packages sent or received by election officials in more than 15 states in recent days, including Virginia.
As early voting neared, Trump’s rhetoric became more ominous as he vowed to prosecute anyone who “cheats” the election, just as he falsely claimed he would do in 2020, when he lied about widespread fraud and attacked election officials. their exact voting results.
Trump has previously sought to sow doubts about voting by mail, encouraging voters to vote in person on Election Day. But this year, Trump and the Republican National Committee, which he now controls, have begun embracing early voting and mail-in voting as a way to lock up GOP votes before Election Day, just as Democrats have done for years.
in Virginia. early voting has long been popular in the city of Chesapeake, especially during presidential elections, said Mary Lynn Pinkerman, its director of elections.
He expects early voting to ease crowds on Nov. 5, but also warned that Election Day voting “is definitely not a thing of the past” and that “voters may still face wait times.”
Fairfax County Elections Director Eric Spicer said about a third of local voters went to the polls on Election Day during the 2020 presidential election, while the rest voted by mail or early and in person.
“We call them our cicada voters who come out every four years,” he said, adding that he expects this year’s presidential election to turn out plenty of turnout in his northern Virginia county.
In South Dakota, the top election official in Minnehaha County, the state’s most populous, is projecting an 80 percent overall voter turnout. Extra seasonal workers started Monday, and an early voting area was set up at the county administration building in Sioux Falls.
County Auditor Leah Anderson said the presidential race and several statewide ballot measures — including abortion rights in the state constitution and another to legalize recreational marijuana — are drawing voters.
“There’s a lot on our ballot,” Anderson said.
Many early voters may choose early voting over in-person mail-in absentee ballots to ensure their votes are counted, given the ongoing struggles of the US Postal Service.
State and local election officials across the country warned last week that mail delivery problems risk losing voters, telling the system’s chief that it has failed to fix persistent deficiencies despite their repeated efforts to reach out.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy responded in a letter released Monday that he is working with state election officials to address their concerns, but reiterated that the postal service is ready.
Simon urged voters to make their voting plans now. Postal delays vary across the country, he said, so voters should request mail-in absentee ballots early if they plan to vote from home and return them on time. Some states count ballots as long as they are postmarked on Election Day, while Minnesota and other states only count ballots that arrive by the time the polls close.
“My hope and expectation is that the USPS will do the things we’ve recommended and do them quickly in the next 47 days because the stakes are really high for individual constituents,” Simon said.
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Associated Press writers Olivia Diaz in Fairfax, Virginia, Ben Finley in Chesapeake, Virginia, and Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota contributed to this story.
