In the first two weeks of advance and absentee voting, one-third of Putnam County’s 15,856 active voters have already cast ballots in this year’s general election.
Inactive voters – those who have not voted in the last two general election cycles – would add another 1,700 to the rolls and would be eligible to vote if they showed up. However, this list most typically includes those who have moved or died.
The advance voting at the county’s administration building continued this week and will halt at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4. All voting ends Tuesday, Nov. 8, with the traditional in-person voting in the county’s five voting precincts. Except for overseas military ballots and the usual handful of provisional ballots, all outstanding absentee ballots must be in the elections office by the close of voting Nov. 8.
As of last Saturday, 4,251 voters had cast ballots under the advance voting technique. In addition, another 530 absentee ballots had already been returned out of the 781 mailed out by the county board of elections and registration staff, according to acting elections supervisor Kimberly Rudolph.
The pace of the first two weeks of advance voting has been “steady – exceptionally steady, every single day,” Rudolph said, with a rough average of 350 a day.
Whether the increasing popularity of the advance voting technique represents a surge in voter interest or a more convenient choice than facing the chance of long lines on election day probably cannot be figured out until all voting is completed.
A couple of chance encounters late Monday afternoon hints convenience plays a major role.
“Yeah, come in during the period of advance voting when you want; it’s just a little easier,” said one parent with a youngster in Halloween costume in tow.
Statistics show that younger voters in the 18-30 age group make up the largest single block of Putnam’s registered voters (most register when they obtain driver’s licenses). However, casual observation made it seem that this age group was not voting in any abundance, at least not during advance voting.
According to data in the secretary of state’s elections division website, the state’s more rural counties have taken to advance voting to a greater extent than the more urban counties, relative to their populations. Towns County in the mountains leads the way with over 40 percent of its voters casting ballots in the first two weeks, followed by the Lake Country’s Greene County in the number-two spot with 37.3 percent, Putnam at number 11 with 30.1 percent, and Morgan at number 16 with 28.6 percent.
The strong trend toward the convenience of advance voting may carry some disadvantages. Those voters cannot change their minds, and their counties will have fewer in-person votes to garner on election day.
The shifting around of types of voters may also challenge our perceptions as we watch vote totals on election night. In the not-too-distant past, the story line was about which counties and how many precincts had reported. Advance voting did not exist and the relatively small number of handcounted absentee ballots was always late and often irrelevant.
However, computerization and changes in the state’s procedures may bring much quicker results on election night, but also the possible rapid shifting of vote totals according to which votes – and voters – get counted first.
Tabulation of advance votes, especially in rural, more conservative counties with older populations, will likely be the first reported. The second set likely will be the absentee votes, where procedural changes have sped up the process. The last (once the first) will likely be the in-person, election day votes, where huge numbers will come from more urban counties.