MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Democratic and Republican conventions are a memory, the first and perhaps only debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is behind us, and polling places are beginning to send out mail-in ballots.
Now come the voters.
Early voting for the 2024 U.S. presidential election begins on Friday in Virginia, South Dakota and Minnesota, the home state of Harris’ running mate, Governor Tim Walz.
The first in-person ballots will be cast just over six weeks before Election Day on Nov. 5. About a dozen other states will follow with early in-person voting in mid-October.
“If I could wave a magic wand in this room right now, I would want two things: Between now and November 5th, I would want to see high turnout and low drama,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said during a news conference Thursday, previewing his state’s election season efforts. Simon is also president of the National Association of Secretaries of State.
Across the country, local election directors are beefing up security to keep their workers and polling places safe while ensuring that ballots and voting procedures are not tampered with. Officials and rank-and-file poll workers have been the targets of intimidation and even death threats since the 2020 presidential election.
Federal authorities are investigating the origins of suspicious packages sent or received in recent days to election officials in more than 15 states, including Virginia.
As early voting approached, Trump’s rhetoric became increasingly menacing, with a pledge to prosecute anyone who “cheated” in the election, in the same manner he falsely claimed they had done in 2020, when he lied about widespread fraud and attacked officials who insisted on their accurate vote counts.
Trump has previously sought to sow doubts about mail-in voting, encouraging voters to cast ballots in person on Election Day. But this year, Trump and the Republican National Committee, which he now controls, have embraced early and mail voting as a way to lock in GOP votes before Election Day, just as Democrats have done for years.
In Virginia, early in-person voting has long been popular in the city of Chesapeake, especially during presidential elections, said Mary Lynn Pinkerman, director of elections.
She expects early voting to ease crowds on Nov. 5, but also warned that Election Day voting “is certainly not a thing of the past” and that “voters may still face wait times.”
Fairfax County Elections Director Eric Spicer said about a third of local voters went to the polls on Election Day in the 2020 presidential election, while the rest voted by mail or early and in person.
“We call them our cicada voters who come out every four years,” he said, adding that he expects this year’s presidential election to bring a large turnout in his northern Virginia county.
In South Dakota, the top election official in Minnehaha County, the state’s most populous, is targeting 80% turnout. Extra seasonal workers began work Monday and an early voting area was set up at the county administrative building in Sioux Falls.
County Auditor Leah Anderson said the presidential election and several statewide ballot measures, including a proposal to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and a proposal to legalize recreational marijuana, will attract voters.
“We have a lot on our ballot,” Anderson said.
Many early voters are choosing to vote in person rather than by mail to ensure their votes are counted, given the ongoing problems with the U.S. Postal Service.
Election officials at state and local levels across the country warned last week that mail delivery problems could disenfranchise voters, telling the system’s head that it has failed to fix the persistent flaws despite repeated attempts to reach them.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy responded in a letter released Monday that he would work with state election officials to address their concerns, but he reiterated that the Postal Service would stand ready.
Simon urged voters to make their voting plans now. Mail delays vary across the country, he said, so voters should request mail ballots early if they plan to vote from home, and return them early. Some states will count ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day, while Minnesota and other states will only count ballots that arrive by the time the polls close.
“I hope and expect that the USPS will do the things we recommended quickly in the next 47 days because the stakes are really high for individual voters,” Simon said.
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Associated Press reporters Olivia Diaz in Fairfax, Virginia, Ben Finley in Chesapeake, Virginia, and Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed to this story.
