I understand with the current pandemic why many people want to vote early for their health to protect themselves. Ultimately, this is a personal decision, and I would never tell you what to do. I do, however, implore you to not vote early and to consider my reasoning as to why.
I will start off by stating an obvious reason for why you should not vote early and that is that you may change your mind. We all like to think that we have made up our minds and that we are all going to vote for who we think we are going to on Election Day. In 2016, about 13 percent of voters decided who they were going to vote for within the last week of the election. Of that 13 percent, 8 percent decided in the last few days and 5 percent decided in the last week.
13 percent does not seem like a majority, and that is because it is not. It is, however, a decisive block of the vote. When you consider that many of the states in 2016 were won by such a small margin, it is important to note that if the 13 percent who decided within the last few days did change their mind during that time but had instead decided to vote early … well, it is over.
This problem is the most compelling, especially when you consider the news coming out about Hunter Biden, his role with foreign companies, the alleged corruption and former Vice President Joe Biden’s role in it all. This is a two-way street, of course, and that is important to note. Just as Joe Biden has his own potential vote-changing scandals, so does President Donald Trump. Imagine if, hypothetically, a potential Trump voter found out about how the Trump administration allocated funds away from the 9/11 victims healthcare program. The same logic applies here as does with the previous example. If that same Trump voter voted early and already cast their ballot, there is nothing they can do.
This is already potentially happening if you check the Google trends for “Can I change my early vote?” Even within the past seven days, there has been quite a spike in all battle grounds, and these votes could not only change, but fundamentally decide this election.
The second reason I would recommend you not vote early is that your vote is not always counted right away. This may seem mundane, but this is hugely important when you consider how dangerous that can be with your ballot. If your ballot is not counted before Election Day, it's not necessarily tracked by anyone else. It’s up to you to make sure that your ballot is counted, which is fair enough; however, this is very dangerous as well. It is especially dangerous if you worry about voter suppression or ballot harvesting. If you vote early and you do not ensure that your vote is counted, what stops anyone from a poll worker to a USPS driver to “accidentally” throw it away or lose it? Who is going to know? This is especially true if they are all counted on Election Day and mixed in with all the other ballots provided.
Thirdly, and finally, early voting as it is now is no different than Election Day. Practicing social distancing and wearing masks on long lines does not seem that much different than what we can expect on Nov. 3. I guess it comes down to one of the reasons people are saying they are voting early is to avoid potentially contacting COVID-19. But, if the location of these votes is not all that different than what it will be on Election Day, what is the point? The only difference that you have is that when you vote early, it’s potentially not what you really wanted, more risk to your ballot being destroyed or lost and most definitely not safer than on Election Day if this is the state that it is in.
To conclude, I will say most definitely vote. Get out and vote. Vote. Vote. Vote. Do so however you feel is safest and do so with the mindset that you are going to be the change in the area that you are voting in. Do consider that perhaps if you are going to vote in person, just do it on Election Day. Working? You have a right to take paid-time off work to go vote if you will only have less than four hours to get to the polls before they close. Make a plan. Vote earlier in the day before the main traffic. If you are waiting in line to vote, ask the person in front of you if you can go ahead of them so that you can leave on time. If none of these things work for you or you simply cannot bring yourself to do it, then vote early or by mail. Request a mail-in ballot and make sure you are staying safe.