The meaning of the national trend toward early voting – enthusiasm, conviction, worries about the “American experiment in self-government,” or simple convenience – may not be parsed out until after next Tuesday’s Election Day polls close.
Maybe well after. But one thing is clear: Putnam voters are part of this election’s national trend. At the close of the 13th day of early voting here this past Monday evening, 40 percent of Putnam’s record 18,169 registered voters had already cast their ballots, and this week provided another four days of early voting.
As of Monday, the number of votes cast in early voting in Putnam County was 7,280, not including 523 absentee ballots returned to the Board of Elections office.
Another 400 or so absentee ballots have been issued but not yet returned. To be counted, these remaining ballots must be submitted to the Board of Elections office by 7 p.m. Nov. 5. The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot has passed.
In context, a 60-65 percent turnout here in a presidential election year is generally considered “good.” With 40-plus percent already in the bag and four more days of early voting available, it would not take much of a voter turnout on the more traditional Nov. 5 Election Day to suggest a “huge” participation rate this year.
On the other hand, it bears watching to see if early voting turns out to be just a convenient way of avoiding long Election Day lines.
With the process for counting the votes under attack since at least the 2020 election that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, some otherwise routine (somewhat tedious) backstage procedures by local election officials should be mentioned: On Friday, Nov. 1, at noon, state law allows local elections officials to open absentee ballots to have them ready to be counted on election night.
The ballot is returned in an envelope placed inside a second envelope with the voter’s name and other identification on it. Two-person teams review the outer envelope—especially for any missing information—before the inner envelope is opened, and the ballot (without any voter identification) is removed and ready for machine tabulation on Nov. 5.
In past decades, especially in the days of huge “bedsheet ballots,” the time-consuming opening of ballot envelopes and then hand-tabulation of the votes on absentee ballots could extend well into the night.
The result?
Relatively small numbers of absentee ballots became almost an afterthought to the counts already reported by the election-day precincts. With the now decade-old “new” procedure and machine tabulation, absentee ballots are the first to be counted on election night.
On Tuesday, November 5, Election Day, the significant point is that the word “unofficial” was attached to voting totals reported to the state that night. Those reports make up the vast majority – and trends – of the votes, though there remain exceptions. Typically, you could count them on your fingers.
On Nov. 6-8, until 5 p.m. Friday, some votes (the “exceptions”) may still be counted. One set is for U.S. citizens abroad and military voters abroad or stateside. A second is called “provisional.” As long as the postmark on the absentee ballot shows they were in the mail on or before Election Day, they have an extra three days to be valid votes.
Provisional votes typically involve local people who encountered problems in an earlier attempt to vote. For instance, those missing information on absentee ballots or no photo ID. They, too, have three days to correct the problem.
One week after Election Day, on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 4:30 p.m., the county Board of Elections and Registration will meet to certify local totals and finally make the election “official.”