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The United States has 233.7 million eligible voters in 2020, compared to 200 million in 2016. Turnout predictions for 2020 are that 150 million or more are expected to exercise their right to vote. Featured photo: A voter marks his ballot in a voting booth in a gym at the Palisades Park voting site in the 2012 Pacific Palisades presidential election
The United States has seen a wave of early voting like never before. Analysts say that by Saturday, October 16, about 20 million Americans may have already voted in the November 3 presidential election.
First published in Daily Maverick 168
With 17 million Americans having voted as of Friday, the world is watching what will be an epic election.
Due to Covid-19, people were urged to use mail-in ballots and vote early to avoid long lines. Conservatives are generally known to vote in person on that day.
The spikes of coronavirus and the volatile state of the electorate, with highly polarizing elections by Joe Biden and Donald Trump, appear to have created an urgency, translating into what could be the best voter turnout in the United States in 100 years.
The US Elections Project identified three key factors driving voter turnout:
Change state laws (allowing early voting in person).
The pandemic (people mail ballots to avoid crowded spaces).
Voter interest (strong feelings of wanting Trump to get in or out).
The United States has 233.7 million eligible voters in 2020, up from 200 million in 2016.
About 2 million people voted in Florida, even though the state has problems with the voter registration system. While they did get a brief extension, Judge Mark Walker offered this reprimand: “Florida has failed to figure out how to conduct an election correctly, a task simpler than rocket science.” (Florida is home to NASA’s launch site.)
This week, Georgia saw long lines as people lined up and waited, sometimes up to eight hours, due to problems with the electronic vote books used to verify voter registration information. The first day of voting in person in Georgia on October 12 saw a record 128,000 people going to the polls. The traditionally red state has seen nearly a million people cast their votes, despite technical problems. Democrats may be making headway: About a third of Georgia’s eligible voters are under 35.
Last week, Wisconsin received more than 600,000 absentee ballots, up from 150,000 in 2016.
Some 139 million Americans voted in the 2016 election. Or 56% of eligible voters. In 2012, just over 60% of eligible Americans voted. The 2020 turnout predictions are that 150 million or more are expected to exercise their right to “Just Vote!” as Kamala Harris urged during the vice presidential debate.
Polls clearly indicate that early voting in person and mail-in ballots are more likely to be Biden supporters. Trump supporters may appear in numbers on Nov. 3, as he has repeatedly urged going to the polls that day.
Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin saw strong white working-class votes tip the balance toward Trump in 2016. They might still tip the scale toward Trump, but as one white American in his 40s put it: “Well, I’m not sure it might feel like comfortable voting for Trump again. ” DM / DM168
