Tag: early voting

Conservative Groups Forge Early Voting Coalition Built Around New Unity Pledge

Just the News

In the hotel where Abraham Lincoln kicked off his Civil War presidency, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. refined his most famous speech, dozens of organizations gathered this week with a common goal: to forge a historic coalition that would catapult conservatives to the forefront of early voting and election lawfare and expand their movement to Hispanics, Asians, union workers, and African-Americans fleeing the Democratic Party.

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Ohio Republican Party Urges Voters to Bank Their Vote Ahead of Primary Election

Kaitlin Housler
People Voting

The Ohio Republican Party is urging GOP voters in the Buckeye State to participate in the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) new nationwide campaign focused on maximizing pre-Election Day voting.

The RNC’s Bank Your Vote campaign was created last year to “encourage, educate, and activate Republican voters on when, where, and how to lock in their votes as early as possible, through in-person early voting, absentee voting, and ballot harvesting where legal.”

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In Battle for Control of Virginia Legislature, Republicans Test New Commitment to Early Voting

Just the News

Early voting has become a central issue in the Virginia legislature election, which is set to conclude on Tuesday and determine whether Gov. Glenn Youngkin will have a Republican majority to pass legislation.

The state Senate is currently controlled by Democrats, 22-18, with the state House controlled by Republicans, after winning 52 seats in 2021 to Democrats’ 48, according to Ballotpedia. Republicans gained control of the state House in 2021, when Youngkin won the governorship, Winsome Earle-Sears won the election for lieutenant governor, and Jason Miyares won the attorney general race.

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Elections Expert Gina Swoboda Discusses Maricopa County Officials’ Missteps in the 2022 Election

Rachel Alexander

Gina Swoboda, executive director of Phoenix-based Voter Reference Foundation (VRF) discussed election problems and what to do about them recently on the Jenny Beth Show. Jenny Beth Martin was an early leader in the Tea Party movement as co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. In this third part of a three-part series from the interview, Swoboda delved deeper into the problems that occurred during the 2022 election, many which were caused or exacerbated by election officials, and the hurdles to fixing them.

She observed that switching from precinct voting to vote centers did not increase turnout as election officials claimed it would, which they did in order to convince voters the switch would be beneficial. Republican legislators ran bills that would have made precinct voting easier, she said, like holding voting on a school holiday so the schools could be used as voting locations, but the bills were unsuccessful. 

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Connecticut Gov. Lamont Signs Bill Authorizing Early Voting

The Center Square

Connecticut has become the latest state to authorize early voting in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic under a bill signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday. 

The measure, which cleared the state Legislature last week, authorizes a 14-day early voting period for general elections, a seven-day period for primaries, and a four-day early voting period for special elections and presidential primaries. 

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Connecticut Lawmakers Approve Early Voting

The Center Square

Connecticut voters would get up to two weeks early voting ahead of federal and state elections under a proposal headed for Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk for consideration.

The legislation, which passed the Democratic-controlled state Senate Tuesday on a 27-7 vote, authorizes a 14-day early voting period for general elections, a seven-day period for primaries, and a four-day early voting period for special elections and presidential primaries. Lamont has pledged to sign the bill, which the House previously approved.

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Connecticut’s Early Voting Costs Could Top $9 Million

The Center Square
Early Voting

Connecticut’s embrace of early voting will make it more convenient for millions to cast a ballot, but comes with a hefty price tag for the state and local governments.

That’s according to a new report by the state’s Office of Fiscal Analysis, which determined the move could cost from $6.9 million to $9.2 million over the next several years, depending on how many days of early voting are offered. 

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Early Voting Begins in Battleground Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court Election

Admin

Early voting has begun in Wisconsin for the state’s High Court, and this election becomes the most important decision of 2023, with ramifications far beyond the Badger state, and into 2024.

Tested constitutionalist Daniel Kelly seeks to rejoin the state Supreme Court in Madison. Kelly is an unabashed conservative, but also a careful, balanced, and restrained jurist who does not legislate from the bench or engage in partisan power grabs.

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Democrats’ ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ Myth Debunked Again as Early Voting in Georgia Runoff Tops 1 Million

Admin

For James Newton, an African American voter in Atlanta, early voting is a tough sell.   

“I always vote on Election Day. I like the excitement of it,” Newton told The Daily Signal after voting at a church on Election Day in November. “For me, it’s like showing up to a ballgame. You want all the final, last portions of the game, like overtime, so to speak.”

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Commentary: GOP Botched Early-Voting Ground Game

RealClearWire

Two days before Brian Kemp bested Stacey Abrams by more than seven percentage points in their closely watched rematch, the Georgia governor did something unusual for a Republican candidate in the 2022 midterms: He expressed confidence about where he stood and cited early voting as a top reason.

“We’ve also had record turnout for early voting, which ended this Friday. It’s been an incredible turnout, and we feel good about things,” Kemp told Trey Gowdy, the former congressman and host of Fox News’ “Sunday Night in America.”

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Warnock, DSCC Sue to Allow for Extra Day of Early Voting in Georgia Senate Runoff

Admin

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, along with party allies, have sued the state to allow for an extra day of early voting before the U.S. Senate runoff election on Dec. 6.

Warnock, joined by the Democratic Party of Georgia and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, has filed a complaint for an injunction in the Fulton County Superior Court, seeking to force Georgia to allow early voting on Saturday, Nov. 26. Early voting in the race is scheduled to begin on Monday, Nov. 28 and run until Friday, Nov. 29, the mandatory five days required by state law.

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Democrat Gov. Ned Lamont Declares Early Voting Ballot Measure Passed in Connecticut

Susan Berry, PhD

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) announced a ballot measure for a constitutional amendment to allow in-person early voting in the state had been passed by voters, Hearst media reported Wednesday.

Lamont “said the question had been passed by voters as he began his speech Tuesday night in which he declared victory in his own race,” the report said.

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589K Early Votes So Far in Virginia Elections

Eric Burk

With a little over a week until Election Day, 589,627 voters had voted early as of October 29 in Virginia’s ongoing election, according to a graphic from The Virginia Public Access Project. That’s down from 2021, which saw over one million votes by election day, but which also had statewide elections and house races. In Virginia this year, only VA-02, VA-07, and VA-10 are competitive; the other congressional races are safe Republican or Democrat.

That’s not quite reflected in VPAP’s breakdown of early votes by district. VA-01 has the most early votes with 74,377, followed by VA-02 with 64,338, VA-05 with 59,987, VA-10 with 58,793, and VA-07 with 57,931.

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Early Voting Higher in Ohio than in 2018

The Center Square

More Ohioans have requested absentee ballots and voted early in-person as of the close of business Tuesday than at the same point in the state’s 2018 gubernatorial election, Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced.

“While not a significant increase over the same point in the 2018 election, Ohioans are showing confidence in Ohio’s abundant early voting opportunities,” said LaRose. “Our bipartisan boards of elections have done an incredible job making their early voting centers ready, and lines are short for anyone who wants to make sure their voice is heard.” While combined the number of ballot requests and in-person early voting totals pass the 2018 total 21 days before the election, the jump comes from in-person early voting.

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Midterm Election in Georgia Sees Record Numbers as Early Voting Commences

The Center Square

Georgia saw a record number of voters turn out for a midterm election, state officials said.

As of Tuesday, 143,077 voters have cast ballots in Georgia — 131,318 voted early in person, while 11,759 voted via an absentee ballot. The number of in-person voters is an 85% increase from the 70,849 voters who cast ballots in person on the first day of early voting in the 2018 midterm election.

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Maricopa County Recorder Tells Arizonans to Prepare for a ‘Blue Night’ in November Election

Neil Jones

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer shared Monday that voters should be ready for Democrats to initially lead on the night of November 8th as early votes are counted first.

“The results released at 8:00 PM on Election Night will be comprised of early ballots we receive by the weekend before Election Day,” tweeted Richer. “First moral of the story: In Arizona, Initial results will likely be much bluer than eventual final results. Second moral: if you want your ballot to be part of results released AT 8:00 PM on Election Night, return it before the weekend before Election Day.”

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Arizona State Sen. Mesnard Speaks About Onsite Tabulation for Mail-In Voting Bill

Neil Jones

Arizona State Senator J.D. Mesnard (R-Chandler) spoke with The Arizona Sun Times about the effect SB 1632 – a newly-signed bill he sponsored – may have on the perception of mail-in voting. The measure aims to provide onsite tabulation for early ballots.

“I think the issues, the oppositions, the concerns surrounding mail-in ballots are wide and vast and that this [law] may help mitigate some of it, but those issues are much more fundamental.

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Georgia’s Cobb County GOP Reports Problems with New Voting System

Peter D'Abrosca

Just months after Georgia’s Secretary of State announced that the state’s voter registration management system would be changed, one county is reporting issues as early voting for the May 24 primary elections begins. 

“Unfortunately, the 2022 Primary Advance Voting began with multiple issues at polling locations throughout Cobb County,” the Cobb County Republican Party said in a May 5 statement. “Since the polls opened on Monday, May 2, 2022, problems have included poll pad voter data being missing and incorrect information on certain ballots; some ballots excluded a State Representative race and some ballots excluded the Cityhood referendums. Since our vote is anonymous, once a ballot is cast there is no way to rectify an issue.”

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Arizona Attorney General’s Report Recommends Election Reforms Similar to Those Sought in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) released a report this week on elections in his state—focusing especially on Maricopa County—advocating similar election reforms to those Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers currently seek.

While the report did not make criminal allegations regarding recent elections, it did declare that Arizona’s election system suffers from major procedural vulnerabilities including insufficient time to confirm signatures on ballots submitted during early voting and problems with the chain of custody for ballots placed in drop boxes. Altogether, the attorney general estimates that between 100,000 and 200,000 early ballots were transported without proper protocol being followed.

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Biden and Harris to Stump for Warnock, Ossoff in Georgia Ahead of Senate Runoffs

Corinne Murdock

Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will visit Georgia to support the Senate election runoff candidates, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, next week.

Biden and Harris will arrive in the days preceding the runoff elections, according to a press release from their team. Harris will precede Biden by a day, showing up to Savannah on Sunday. Biden will arrive on Monday in Atlanta. 

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Where the Republican Party Stands: Virginia’s Political Shifts in the 2020 Election

Corinne Murdock

The 2020 election outcomes revealed a telling political trajectory occurring in Virginia and the nation. Final tallies indicated that Republicans’ future chances of winning in the state may be ever-slimming. A consistent theme across the board – Republicans fell short with the unprecedented number of absentee voters.

Although Republicans increased their presidential vote totals from 2016 by about 185,000, Democrats increased their votes by nearly 400,000. In every election since 2008, Democratic candidates had only enjoyed about a 10,000 vote increase per year.

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Nearly 100 Million Americans Voted Early; Hawaii, Texas Already Exceed 2016 Turnout

The Center Square

Roughly 100 million early votes already were cast before the first polls opened Tuesday morning, Michael McDonald, professor at the University of Florida, says. He runs the Election Project, which tracks polling and election data by state.

“These reports will include early voting activity from the proceeding day,” McDonald said in the latest analysis published Nov. 1. “It is also likely reports by Tuesday morning will fail to capture all of the pre-election voting activity since there are sporadic reports of election officials experiencing delays in processing the unprecedented number of mail ballots.”

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Tennessee Crushes First-Day Early Voting Turnout Record

The Center Square

A total of 273,325 in-person and absentee votes have been cast by Tennesseans – a 91% increase in voter turnout over the first day of early voting in the 2016 presidential election and a 120% increase in turnout over the first day of early voting in 2012.

More than 167,000 Tennesseans cast ballots in-person Wednesday on the first day of early voting this week, and more than 105,500 absentee ballots already have been cast, according to data released Thursday by Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett.

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At the State Voter Registration Deadline, Almost One Million Virginians Have Already Cast Their Ballots

Jacob Taylor
Woman voting at booth

With Tuesday’s voter registration deadline having now passed, the Commonwealth is entering the final stretches before the general elections in November and Virginians have been feverishly casting their votes with nearly 1 million in-person and absentee ballots already submitted.

Specifically, 532,983 in-person votes and 444,390 votes by mail have already been cast in the state with an additional 642,687 absentee ballot applications that have not yet been returned to general registrars, according to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) early voting dashboard.

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Local Officials Report Virginia Election System Malfunctioning – Election Commissioner Says It’s ‘Fine’

Corinne Murdock

Elections officials report that Virginia’s critical election system is malfunctioning during early voting, and worry it could fail on or before Election Day.
This isn’t the first time the Virginia Election and Registration Information System (VERIS) has presented issues. A 2018 report recommended the legislature replace VERIS. Specifically, the report stated that the system couldn’t be relied upon for elections.

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