If you’re a Democrat and you voted early for Sen. Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, or billionaire Tom Steyer, tough luck.
In many Super Tuesday states, early voting started last Monday (or earlier) — when those three were still in the race. However, following the South Carolina primary, all of them dropped out. Buttigieg and Klobuchar endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. For Biden, that’s good news. But it also reveals one major issue with early voting.
Most of the people who voted for Klobuchar, Buttigieg, and Steyer before they dropped out are stuck with those votes. They’re locked in for candidates who will not be president.
In Super Tuesday states such as Colorado, Texas, and Utah, there’s no way to change your vote if you sent in an early ballot. In other states, such as Michigan, voters can spoil their first ballots and request new ones, but it has to be done before the state’s March 10 primary — Election Day is too late.
In a tight race, this dynamic could change the outcome. In Massachusetts, where early voting started on Feb. 24, a WBUR poll last week found that a combined 22% of likely voters planned to support either Buttigieg (14%), Klobuchar (6%), or Steyer (2%). Had the people who voted for them early waited to vote until Election Day, maybe they could have made a difference in whoever wins or in the distribution of delegates.
Dropping out is not an issue in general elections, but new information being released about candidates before Election Day is something to be worried about.
In some states (Minnesota, Vermont, New Jersey, and others), early voting starts more than 40 days before Election Day. Now think about all the events that happened in the 2016 presidential election in the final 40 days before Nov. 8.
During that time, Trump’s Access Hollywood tape was leaked, and then-FBI Director James Comey reopened the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server. Other presidential elections have had an “October Surprise” that throws a wrench in the race. In 2020, 40 days before Election Day is Sept. 24 — that’s before every general election presidential debate. Surely, voters’ opinions will fluctuate on both candidates over those 40 days.
Aside from candidates dropping out, what if a voter drops out? Some people vote early and die before Election Day, but their vote counts just as much as someone who has to live with the electoral consequences.
This is about not just the presidential election but also state and local elections — where the raw vote totals and margins of victory are slimmer.
In New York, implementing early voting statewide would cost taxpayers $175 million, according to one report. Instead of wasting millions of taxpayer dollars, maybe states should recognize that they are creating a lot of problems with early voting and reconsider the concept.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
