Early voting means ‘election season’ has already kicked off

Tuesday, Nov. 5, is Election Day – but if Americans vote like they did in the last two election cycles, most of them will have already cast a ballot before the big day.Early voting may start as soon as Sept. 6 for eligible voters, with seven battleground states sending out ballots to at least some voters the same month, making September and October less a countdown to Election Day, and more the beginning of “election season.”VANCE PRAISED FOR ‘ABSOLUTE FIRE’ TAKEDOWN OF HARRIS-WALZ ‘TAG TEAM’ RIOT ENABLERS: ‘MAKE AMERICA BURN AGAIN’States have long allowed at least some Americans to vote early, like members of the military or people with illnesses. In some states, almost every voter casts a ballot by mail.Many states expanded eligibility in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic made it riskier to vote in-person.That year, the Fox News Voter Analysis found that 71% of voters cast their ballots before Election Day, with 30% voting early in-person and 41% voting by mail.Early voting remained popular in the midterms, with 57% of voters casting a ballot before Election Day.TIM WALZ’S SELECTION AS HARRIS RUNNING MATE DRAWS SKEPTICISM, EVEN AMONG ANTI-TRUMP FIGURESElections officials stress that voting early is safe and secure. Recounts, investigations and lawsuits filed after the 2020 election did not reveal evidence of widespread fraud or corruption. There are a few ways to vote before Election Day.The first is early in-person voting, where a voter casts a regular ballot in-person at a voting center before Election Day.The second is voting by mail, where the process and eligibility varies by state.Eight states vote mostly by mail, including California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. Registered voters receive ballots and send them back.Most states allow any registered voter to request a mail ballot and send it back. This is also called mail voting, or sometimes absentee voting. Depending on the state, voters can return their ballot by mail, at a drop box, and/or at an office or facility that accepts mail ballots.In 14 states, voters must have an excuse to vote by mail, ranging from illness, age, work hours or if a voter is out of their home county on Election Day.States process and tabulate ballots at different times. Some states don’t begin counting ballots until election night, which delays the release of results.This list of early voting deadlines is for guidance only. In some areas, early voting may begin before the dates listed. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes, and deadlines, go to Vote.gov and your state’s elections website.The first voters to be sent absentee ballots are expected to be in North Carolina, which had planned to begin mailing out ballots for eligible voters on Sept. 6.Six more battleground states begin early voting the same month, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nevada.KAMALA HARRIS HAS AVOIDED INTERVIEWS FOR MORE THAN TWO WEEKS SINCE BECOMING DEM NOMINEESubject to change. In-person early voting in bold.Sept. 6Sept. 16Sept. 17Sept. 19Sept. 20Sept. 21Sept. 23Sept. 26Sept. 30Oct. 4Oct. 6Oct. 7Oct. 8Oct. 9Oct. 11Oct. 15Oct. 16Oct. 17Oct. 18Oct. 19Oct. 21Oct. 22Oct. 23Oct. 24Oct. 25Oct. 26Oct. 30Oct. 31