Virginia Sees Record Early Voting Numbers Ahead of Gubernatorial Election
JORDAN DIXON-HAMILTON | 1 Nov 2021In the 2017 gubernatorial election, 189,891 voters cast early ballots. However, this year’s race saw nearly six times that number being turned in early, with 1,137,656 voters submitting early ballots. The data firm TargetSmart provides these numbers, which indicate that close to one-fifth of Virginia’s 5,975,696 electorate has already voted in this upcoming election.
Current Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation into law in April 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic that increased access to early voting. Before 2020, Virginians who sought to vote early were required to have a valid reason to request an absentee ballot. Now, there are no precursors for requesting an absentee ballot, and Virginians may vote 45 days before an election. . . .
. . . Political analysts say that Democrats are more likely to cast early ballots, which could explain why the 2021 numbers favor Democrats. However, voter turnout is going to be the deciding factor in Tuesday’s election. As the Washington Post reports, “
About a third of the early ballots cast have been in heavily Democratic and voter-rich Northern Virginia . . .
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/11/01/virginia-sees-record-early-voting-numbers-ahead-gubernatorial-election/
