More than 400,000 people have already voted or returned mail-in ballots for the upcoming November election, according to a tracking website from the University of Florida. As of September 29th, a total of 426,298 individuals had cast their votes. Of this number, 213,620 voted early in person and 212,708 returned mail-in ballots.
The data also revealed that as of September 29th, a staggering 45,020,537 mail ballots had been requested. The states currently reporting early or mail-in votes include Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska Michigan Indiana Vermont Pennsylvania Virginia North Carolina South Carolina New Jersey Maryland Georgia Florida and Connecticut.
When broken down by party affiliation and age group among states that provide such data: out of those who have voted early or returned mail ballots in these states so far; Democrats make up approximately 64 percent (49.045), Republicans account for about 19.5 percent (14.948), while unaffiliated voters or those belonging to other parties represent around16.6 percent (12.693).
Regarding age demographics among these voters: the majority are aged over forty with thirty-seven percent being over sixty-five years old and another thirty-four point eight percent falling between forty-one to sixty-four years old.
In terms of race representation among early voters across three states that report such information: non-Hispanic white people make up about sixty point four percent (60.4%), followed by black individuals at five point seven percent (5.7%), Hispanic individuals at two point eight percent (2.8%), Asian individuals at two point nine percent (2.9%), Native American individuals at just zero point two percent(0..2%). Approximately thirty-percent were marked as “other/multiple/unknown.”
Gender-wise among states providing gender data: males accounted for forty-eight-point one-percent(48.l%) while females made up forty-five-percent(45%). The remaining six-point nine-percent(6-9%) were marked as “unknown.”
A recent poll conducted by NBC News found that half of registered voters plan to vote early this fall with fifty-one-percent indicating they will vote either by mail or in person before Election Day.
Despite the increasing popularity of voting by mail due to COVID-19 concerns; officials have warned about potential issues related to delays caused by problems within the U.S Postal Service system.
However; Louis DeJoy -the head of USPS- responded stating that they are prepared for the upcoming election despite ongoing concerns raised regarding postal service reliability.
Late changes have been made in Georgia and Arizona where election workers will now be required to conduct hand counts on Election Day which could potentially delay result reporting.
Similarly; Pennsylvania is facing a legal battle regarding whether counties should count provisional ballots casted by voters whose initial mail-in ballot was rejected due minor errors such as not using an inner secrecy envelope
