(#6468) 17 days left until we know the results...early voting tracking high

      Nearly 9.1 million votes have been received back into county election offices for this midterm election. With yesterdays big push for early voting as a catalyst for the thousands of No Kings rallies, no doubt early voting is going to push the previous high early vote limits beyond expectations. No proof of that yet this morning but as the numbers come in tracking early voting trends I feel hopeful they will show strong numbers. Each election early voting has been increasing with more than 85 million voting early in 2024. Early voting doesn't necessarily give one side an advantage but what it does show is enthusiasm. Which to me is mostly all on the side of democrats given our grave displeasure with republicans.
     To filter down to actual days left for early in person voting the number is less than at most 13 days. As the 3 days before Tuesday November 3rd will be closed to early in person voting. Mail in ballots will continue to arrive so there is that. So the window for early voting in person is a shorter one than 16 days. However, over these next 13 days the in person voting will exponentially increase in participation. The earliest part of early voting is for those of us who are adamant about insuring our votes are counted. It isn't so much about convenience it is about prioritizing our duty. The middle part of early voting is for those who will vote but are not pressed internally to do it right away. They will do their early voting as it is more convenient for them. The last phase of early voting will be those rushing at the last minute to get their vote in.
     As to election day itself. Most of those are older traditional voters who don't hold to the more modern form of an election season. They have their process and that is what they will follow. As time goes on those who are like that are getting to be fewer and fewer and those who are open to early voting are becoming the greater majority. Which given the enthusiasm around this election and the changing of the guard about early voting I expect over 100 million early votes. With only now about 9.1 early votes received it looks crazy for me to think 100 million will have voted within the next 2 weeks or so. Maybe I am crazy but I think not. The closer we get to election day the more dramatically voters will get their votes in for counting. We shall see!