By: Sean Rhomberg
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Voters around the country and in the state of Arkansas are utilizing the early and absentee voting periods at record rates in this year’s general election.
Whether it be due to fear of voting in person due to the ongoing pandemic or a more motivated electorate, early voting numbers are hitting record highs.
According to the U.S. Elections Project, which is run by University of Florida professor Michael McDonald, over 100 million people voted either by mail or in person before election day. In some states like Texas and Montana, the total tally of early votes has exceeded the entirety of those states’ vote in 2016.
The state of Texas has seen 9.7 million votes cast early in this election compared to just 8.5 million total votes in 2016.
In the state of Arkansas, over 900,000 early votes were cast. In Washington County, the totals far exceed those seen in 2016.
Washington County alone accounted for 61,881 early votes according to the Washington County Election Commission. This number surpasses the 47,741 votes cast early during early voting for the 2016 election.
U of A senior Josh Tebow cast an early absentee ballot in Lawrence County, Missouri and said the process was a relatively smooth one.
“I was one of the first people to request it in my county,” Tebow said. “It is a smaller county so they didn’t have a lot of requests, but I was able to get ahead of the crowd.”
The crowd of voters this year is best represented by the early voting numbers and how they compare to the last election.
According to the same U.S. Elections Project data, voters have already cast 72.3% of the total votes counted in the 2016 election.
While more voters seem to be exercising their right to vote this election, the process looks different for many just because of where they live.
For example, in Missouri where Tebow voted, absentee ballots must be notarized before being sent in to a person’s local election office.
Tebow said keeping track of each county’s procedures can make the process confusing. He said one thing that could help this confusion is unifying the early voting process on a state or national scale.
For those worried their early vote may not be counted in this year’s election, Tebow said he trusts the process that has been put in place.
“I feel like it was safe,” Tebow said. “I feel like I can trust my county clerk and the mail service to get [my ballot] there and get it counted.”
While states’ early voting periods have come to a close, there are still more ballots to be counted other than those cast in person on election day. The U.S. Elections Project estimates that while 63 million mail in ballots have been returned, there are still almost 30 million that remain outstanding.
30 million votes would equal almost half of what both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton received in the 2016 election.
Professor McDonald estimates that this general election could see over 160 million total voters or a turnout rate of 67% of those who are eligible to vote.