Democrats are heavily pushing and engaging in early voting this year. It’s clearly part of a strategy to create a sense of inevitability for Joe Biden.
It didn’t take off as quickly as Democrats planned, but they have made some gains. Even so, Republicans and Trump supporters are keeping pace in some places.
Ronn Blitzer and Audrey Conklin report at FOX News:
2020 presidential election ballots cast so farMany Americans are voting early in the 2020 presidential election amid concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic and U.S. Postal Service timing.More than 56 million total ballots cast as of Saturday morning suggests a record turnout for this year’s race compared to the 5.9 million ballots that were cast at a similar time in 2016, according to data from the United States Elections Project.That number of early ballots cast so far represents 39.4% of the total national voter turnout in 2016, and the total number of ballots cast includes 37.8 million mail-in ballots and 16.3 million in-person ballots.”The pace has dropped,” said Elections Project founder and University of Florida political science professor Michael McDonald in an Oct. 18 blog post on the project website, “because last week the early vote ran about six-and-a-half times at the same point in 2016, whereas this week it is only a little less than five times the comparable 2016 point.”
This is the part you’ll hear repeated by the liberal media:
Democrats have requested 23.4 million ballots while Republicans have requested 13.3 million — about a 10 million ballot request lead based on data from states reporting party registration including California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Flordia, Iowa, Maryland, Maine, North Carolina, New Jersey, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Utah.
This is the fine print:
“Just because registered Democrats are leading Republicans in early voting, that does not mean the Republicans will not make up ground on Election Day,” McDonald wrote, adding that “registered Democrats typically lead Republicans during early voting, and Republicans vote on Election Day, a pattern that persists across many states and elections.”
Interestingly enough, BuzzFeed of all places, is taking a fairly sober approach on the issue. Caroline O’Donovan and Julia Reinstein report:
Don’t Assume That Lots Of Early Voting Means Joe Biden Is A LockAll across Georgia since Oct. 12, voters have been standing in long lines. Many have brought folding chairs and snacks, knowing they may have to wait for three, six, or even eleven hours before it’s their turn to vote in the presidential election.As of Wednesday, more than 1.9 million Georgians — an early voting record for the state — had already cast a ballot, with more than 1.2 million of those having been cast in person. Records were also smashed in Florida, where more than 350,000 people participated in the first day of early voting, and in Texas where some 60% of the entire 2016 vote has already been cast…Republicans in Texas are already closing the gap created by the Democrats’ early lead. As of Wednesday evening, voters with a Republican voting history had narrowly cast more ballots in person than the Democrats — 31.2% of early votes to their 27.5%, according to analysis by Republican consultant Derek Ryan, who runs Texas political research firm Ryan Data.
In the key state of Florida, Democrats are ahead but Republicans are catching up fast.
Allison Ross and Juan Carlos Chavez report at The Tampa Bay Times:
Florida Republicans surge ahead with in-person early votingFlorida Republicans’ preference for in-person voting this election is becoming more apparent after only four days of early voting.Through Thursday, more than 640,000 Republicans statewide had cast ballots in person, according to data from the Florida Division of Elections. That’s 140,000 more in-person votes than Democrats have cast.Democrats hold a 570,000-vote advantage in returned mail ballots so far, with 1.61 million to Republicans’ 1.04 million. At this point, Democrats still hold a commanding lead in the total number of votes cast, although that lead is likely to shrink considerably as Nov. 3 nears.
Expect the media to talk about huge early voting numbers for Democrats all of this coming week. It’s meant to be discouraging for Trump voters.
At this point, there are so many factors at play that it’s very difficult to know which way this is going.
Keep calm, carry on, and vote.
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