Early voting in battleground states show strengths of campaigns

Jesse and Jessica Rector might have helped elect the next USA president 20 days before Election Day. The League of Women Voters of Texas President, Elaine Wiant, says “This is a historic election, and having the first female presidential nominee of a major political party is an important milestone in the journey to full democratic equality”. “Right now, you’ve got to find a place to live”.

The Republican told reporters Thursday that he’s a fan of waiting until Election Day to vote.

The hurricane dumped more than a foot of rain up to 100 miles inland, triggering severe flooding across a large area of eastern North Carolina.

“I really hope that our voting process is fair and correct”, she said. Others sounded determined to do so.

Still, mother and son planned to go to the polls. “What a waste of time if we don’t pull this off”, he said.

Voters who don’t receive a ballot by October 24 or who have questions should call King County Elections at 206-296-VOTE (8683). Almost 3 million votes have been cast already, far outpacing the rate for this period in 2012.

Like absentee ballots, early votes won’t be unsealed and tabulated until Election Day, when they will be counted at polling stations along with ballots cast that day. Early voting typically favors Democrats, so Republicans are making a big push to get their loyalists to the polls.

Early voting kicked off on Thursday in the key swing state of North Carolina, and voters turned out to the polls in droves. In the 2000 election, 16 percent of voters cast their ballots early. Voters’ pamphlets are available online, at Seattle and King County libraries, and at the King County Elections office in Renton.

In Georgia, meanwhile, U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. denied a request from the American Civil Liberties Union to give six additional days for registration in six coastal Georgia counties that Gov. Nathan Deal ordered to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Matthew.

There are signs the storm has affected voter registration. Polling locations and hours can be found by contacting the county clerk or election administrator or checking your local county website. “I don’t have to hear any more of what they have to say, why they’re running”. Robeson County received 179 applications during the final week in 2012 but just 14 last week.

“We don’t have early voting in SC, but we do have absentee for a reason”, said Conway Belangia, who leads Greenville County’s elections office. In Ohio, Florida and Georgia, there was a strong likelihood, for varying reasons, that tens of thousands of people who expect to vote might not be on the official voter rolls by November 8. Bradley said he thinks those numbers may be higher this election. Perhaps these are people who don’t own real estate, as they didn’t have voting rights when the country was founded two centuries ago. Unlike Irish, he did not commit to a numerical target of early voters, but said he expected it to be successful. “It’s just a way of trying to encourage people who would normally find it hard to find it to the polling station”.

Just prior to early voting time Thursday the server at the election commission office malfunctioned and voting was delayed for 30 minutes to an hour. CNN’s latest snapshot of the Electoral College shows Clinton can clinch 270 electoral votes with wins in Colorado and Virginia, without carrying either Iowa or Ohio.