I've been curious about the number of people who've gone out and voted early. Today the New York Times has all the percentages for each state. We've debated when we will vote and have gone back and forth on whether to go early or on election day. I'm a traditionalist at heart and feel election day makes voting kind of satisfying. I was an election judge for 20 years in Madison County which is maybe why the actual day means more to me. And, looking at the percent of early voters for each state, especially Illinois, I'm thinking maybe the precinct won't be terribly crowded. If that many have already voted, it should ease things considerably. The early voters stood in long lines, some waited a couple of hours to vote, made worse because voters from all precincts were in one place, not in individual precincts like on election day.
I may be dreaming, but we shall see. The Times is using the total number of 2016 voters as comparison for each state, admittedly a different time, but all we have.
In any event, 32 percent of Illinois voters have already voted. 19 percent of those in Missouri.
48 percent of Californians have voted, New Mexico and Montana are at 70 percent.
You can look at the totals for all states here. Some states will have election judges with not as much to do next week as other state judges.
Vote when their is no crowd. I voted by mail. I would vote early and drive by the Senior Center to see when their is a short line.
Posted by: Frank | October 27, 2020 at 09:11 AM
Frank, I've given it a lot of thought and in past elections, the mid-afternoon was the most boring part of the day for judges, not many voters. Lots of people in the late part of the day and the morning. I did consider going well before the polls opened to be one of the earliest in the room, but I'm not the only one thinking that so probably not.
Posted by: Diane Meyer | October 27, 2020 at 09:36 AM