The Presidential Election has Already Begun

The 2020 presidential election has already begun as voters in North Carolina have begun receiving their mail-in ballots already. My state will start mailing out ballots 45 days before the election.

Millions of Americans have requested or are electing to vote by mail. This is changing the way that campaigning is being handled. While there is no way to know exactly how many people have requested mail-in ballots, we know millions of more voters will be voting by mail than in 2016.

If you remember in 2016, days before the 2016 presidential election FBI director Comey announced they would reopen the Clinton email investigation, but then announced before the election that the team found nothing. This information weighed heavily on undecided voters who were walking into their polling places to vote and likely pushed the election towards Trump in key states. The election would look differently if millions of people had already voted. Since it is illegal to vote twice.

More money will be poured earlier into battleground states and states that have earlier ballot dissemination. Politics are going to look weird, with a global pandemic, massive mail-in voting, and fewer poll workers. I wonder if this will protect the rights of voters in areas that usually have long lines if their ballots are sent out early enough and able to be mailed in early enough. Will more or fewer people vote?

Times feel more uncertain because there are so many variables in the air. Who knows what is going to happen next? I just hope that all eligible individuals register to vote, and then go vote.