The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Oct. 31, 2022
Today’s Links
Articles:
Georgia Votes – Stats on Georgia 2022 Midterm
Forbes – Most Americans Support Early Voting (A Democratic Priority) And Photo ID Laws (A Republican One), Survey Finds
BallotPedia – Arguments for and against early voting
United States Elections Project – 2022 General Election Early Voting Statistics by Michael McDonald
Professor, University of Florida
Pew Research Center – The voting experience in 2020
National Conference of State Legislatures – Early In-Person Voting
FiveThirtyEight – Early-Voting Laws Probably Don’t Boost Turnout
Groups Taking Action:
When We All Vote, League of Women Voters, All Voting is Local, Unidos US, National Coalition for Black Civic Participation
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
In the 2020 election, roughly 70% of America voted BEFORE election day, driven by the pandemic. But it appears that voters LIKE the convenience and safety of voting early, either in person or by mail. Georgia Votes reports that 1.6 Million voters have already voted in the 2022 Georgia midterm. As of Oct. 30, 450,000 more votes were cast early, than in the 2018 midterm.
A survey released by Gallup last week and reported by Forbes shows wide support for in-person early voting: 95% among Democrats and 60% among Republicans, but down from 74% or Republicans an earlier poll.
Why is early voting popular? It gives flexibility to working voters, caregivers, or to voters with transportation issues. It allows voters who may have changes or issues with their registration to get them fixed, rather than being disenfranchised on election day. In states like Georgia & Texas, voting early can help overcome wait times, fewer polling places and restriction of drop boxes.
Pew Research polled voters after the 2020 election and found 72% of people who voted early did so because it was convenient. FiveThirtyEight reports that while voters like the convenience, studies around the country show it doesn’t increase turnout, just shifts the times people vote. But its popularity means early voting will not disappear anytime soon.
Articles and links to groups taking action are at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org
For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.