Election Day 2020 is Nov. 3, but more than 7 million presidential votes have already been cast, thanks to early voting in person and by mail.
Early voting began in Shelby County on Oct. 14 and ends on Oct. 29. Shelby County citizens can vote at any of 26 locations.
In some parts of the U.S., limiting the number of voting locations has been used in an apparent voter suppression effort. For example, the Republican governor of Texas recently ordered that there would be only one drop-off voting location in each county in the state. That would mean that the smallest Texas county, Loving County, with a population of 134, gets the same number of drop-off voting locations as the biggest Texas County, which is Harris County, population more than 4.6 million. A federal judge in Texas blocked the governor’s action, and now the issue is being debated in the Texas courts.
Mail-in voting, which is not allowed in all U.S. states, is expected to be a popular choice for voters who are either ill or who fear possible Covid-19 infection if they vote in person.
According to an article in the New York Times, 25 states have expanded towards universal mail-in voting. Tennessee is not one of those states. The New York Times article also mentions that some states cannot open the envelope of the ballot for counting until election day.
For those choosing to vote in person either in early voting or on election day, citizens now can vote while maintaining social distance precautions. Voters can also choose to vote early to avoid long lines on election day.
“If you are eligible to vote by mail, and you choose to do so, just make sure to request your ballot ASAP and get it mailed back in ASAP,” said Eric Groenendyk, a professor of political science at the University of Memphis. “There will likely be many ballots mailed this year, so sending your ballot in earlier will likely help the Post Office process the mail.”
When voting in-person or by mail, each citizen’s name is checked off the list of registered voters. This same process is enforced when voting by mail as soon as the ballot is received, Groenendyk said.
While voting is the big topic in the next three weeks, the electoral college plays a huge factor in determining the next president. The candidate who receives most of the popular vote is not necessarily named president. For example, in 2016, Hillary Clinton received the most popular votes, but Donald Trump became president because he received the most electoral college votes.
It is up to the electoral college to see where the weight of the vote came from. There are 538 electoral votes, meaning the nominee must have 270 of those to win the election. The electoral college meets just a few weeks after election day, every four years.
“Since each state gets two senators, no matter the state’s size, the electoral college provides slightly more representation per capita to states with smaller populations,” Groenendyk said.
