Friday marks the official start of election season, with the battleground state of North Carolina opening the process for voting by mail and the start of months of early and mail-in voting across the country, though delays are possible.
Mail-in voting begins in North Carolina on Friday, when the state is set to begin mailing ballots to voters who request them, but may be forced to delay it after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump, asked to withdraw from the polls, The Associated Press reported. attention.
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The Kennedy campaign is scheduled to make arguments before a Wake County judge on Thursday. WRAL attentionIf the judge rules in Kennedy's favor, millions of ballots will be reprinted without his name.
According to the media, Kennedy's lawyers argue that state authorities “have no legitimate reason to force Kennedy to remain on the ballot.”
“To the extent that their 'practicality' test is based on the cost and time required to print correct ballots, this is a problem of Defendants' own making,” the complaint adds.
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North Carolina is the first state to open voting by mail, while another key battleground state, Pennsylvania, is set to open in-person early voting for the first time in 11 days, according to the map. Compiled According to Axios, here are the dates when early voting will begin in seven key battleground states:
- Pennsylvania: Monday, September 16th – 50 days before Election Day.
- Arizona: Wednesday, October 9th – 27 days before Election Day.
- Georgia: Tuesday, October 15th – 21 days before Election Day.
- North Carolina: Thursday, October 17 – 19 days before Election Day
- Nevada: Saturday, October 19 – 17 days before Election Day
- Wisconsin: Tuesday, October 22 – 14 days before Election Day
- Michigan: Sunday, October 27 – 9 days before Election Day
Axios noted that early voting and mail-in voting were the primary ways voters cast their ballots in the 2020 election, with more than 100 million people registering to vote before Election Day. Of course, that election took place during the coronavirus pandemic, but this method of voting is also highly prominent in the 2022 midterm elections.
The adoption of a longer voting period in the United States has changed the contours of election strategies. Candidates have traditionally aimed to achieve a surge or peak in support in late October or early November, but early voting disrupts that strategy because many Americans vote in September and early October. In other words, candidates need to achieve a surge in support at the right point in the early voting period.
