Voting Early Is Easier Than Ever — So We’re Making It A Holiday

Mark your calendar for November 3 — that’s the day most of the United States will turn up to vote. Although there really are other ways, and other days, to prepare your voice heard at the polls. Whether your state permits you to vote absentee, or in the event you simply desire to show up to your local polling place a couple of days early, Saturday, October 24, is a wonderful day to do it.


Introducing the inaugural Vote Early Day, a first-of-its-kind holiday celebrating American voters everywhere and championing your ability to cast your ballot. It’s brought to you by MTV and 65 partners, including March for Our Lives and the NAACP; and also BuzzFeed, Levi’s, Twitter, and more. The effort has also been cosigned by an advisory board helmed by Secretaries of State Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Brad Raffensperger (R-GA).


“Now more than ever, the country’s paying attention to elections and the significance of participating in our democracy,” Secretary Padilla told MTV News. “How we live our lives today is very different than it was 50 years back, and why people have the possibility to vote needs to be modernized. Providing early voting possibilities is a big part of that.”


Voting laws vary, nevertheless most states offer some form of early voting alternative, whether by mail or at specified polling places. However the push is paying off: Over 40 percent of voters cast an advance ballot of some kind in the 2018 midterm elections, an all-time cap on a trend that has been ticking steadily upward since 2004. In California alone, more than 60 percent of registered voters cast their ballots by mail in 2018, and the state has rolled out plenty of reforms to make sure eligible citizens vote. (You can check here to be able to see whether your state permits for early voting.)


While Georgia is prepping for its primary election on March 24, the state is also keeping an eye on the general election this November. “Half the people in Georgia vote early, and half show up on Election Tuesday,” Secretary Raffensperger mentioned. “That supports the us decrease the lines and then some of the pressures that you have as soon as everybody shows up on a Tuesday. We’re working hard to keep those lines to 30 minutes or much less, in accordance with the national goal.”


However voting lines were anything nevertheless quick on Super Tuesday this year, throughout which polling places were overloaded in a couple of states, including California and Texas. (One man, Hervis Rogers, waited almost seven hours to vote in Houston; his ordeal earned national recognition and a phone call for reform from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.) Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn has since called for an investigation into how so several things went wrong on March 3, and the registrar’s office has apologized.


“That is another huge benefit for the advantages of early voting, and promoting early voting,” Padilla mentioned. “The best way to minimize your chances of having to wait in line on election night is to vote early. And the more we can do to distribute that possibility and help people take advantage of that opportunity,” he believes, the better.


And while voter turnout among young people isn’t growing as anticipated, there really are plenty of things you could do to correct that: Bring a friend with as soon as you show up to the polls on October 24, November 3, or any day in between.


“We desire to demystify voting, and remove some of the trepidation that people could have about voting,” Raffensperger mentioned. “It’s not scary, it’s easy. And bringing a friend is easy.” Padilla agreed, adding that, “Voting should be a celebration, not a solemn physical training. The exercising of our voting rights, whether it’s with member friends or relatives or both, is something to be celebrated. Let’s make it a party.”


Whether you show up early or right on time is up to you — just ensure you show face at all, in the event you can.