Early and Absentee Voting Is Through the Roof!

[MineralMan]

In Texas it was reported that early votes have been cast by 65% of the total voters in 2016 already.

What does that mean? That's uncertain, of course. However, it does mean that last-minute campaigning is going to have a smaller impact on the final outcome than it usually does. Campaign ads this late in the season won't change the minds of those who have already voted.

It also decreases the impact of things like tonight's debate. With less than two weeks until election day, a very significant number of voters have already made and recorded their choices. Perhaps the die has already been cast in this election. If Democrats make up a majority of those early votes, the outcome could surprise everyone.

Also, Republicans who are voting early may well be people who have decided to take back their Trump vote from 2016 in disgust at the performance of Donald J. Trump. We don't know that, of course, but all the early voting is, I think, very good news in 2020!

Go Vote if You Haven't Already!

[Thekaspervote]

1. Of course historically when there's a big turn out Dems win.

As far as TX JMHO it is not in play this election cycle..but eventually

[MineralMan]

2. Yes, that's the conventional wisdom.

I'm not certain it will hold this year, but I'm hopeful.

[BComplex]

9. I don't know, Thekaspervote. I'm rooting for Texas dems this time around. I think they're going

to be coming out of the woodwork.

[ananda]

23. Here's hoping!

Turn Texas blue!!!

[Tribetime]

29. Im thinking with those numbers it may very well go for Joe😁

[csziggy]

3. I voted yesterday

It started raining as I drove into the polling place. I think people jumped back into their cars to wait out the shower. My husband and I got in line before it stopped, then after the rain was over the line got much longer. Voting was quick - I marked my sample ballot and used it as a guide.

No protestors or voter intimidation at that location.

[MineralMan]

5. Thank you so much for voting!

[Dustlawyer]

4. Me and my mom early voted here in Texas and it felt so good!!!

My kids and their spouses have also voted, all for Biden/Harris! Thankfully no Trumpeters in my immediate family. My mom's siblings all voted for Trump in 2016 for the tax cuts (all multi-millionaires). My favorite aunt and uncle just told my mom they early voted for Biden! Hopefully the others did too!

[MineralMan]

6. Excellent!

[BComplex]

10. That's what I'm expecting, Dustlawyer. My 81 year old aunt, life-long republican, hates trump.

Can't wait to see Biden elected. She's in Texas.

[dalton99a]

7. Beto's GOTV campaign is massive in Texas.

[MineralMan]

8. Good. I hope he prevails.

[BComplex]

12. Beto's done an amazing job registering voters in Texas.

He deserves a lot of credit for the organizing he's done.

[getagrip_already]

11. NOW is the time to demoralize and disorient the remaining gop voters.......

We can't impact votes already made, but we can sure as shit convince people the effort to vote for this train wreck isn't worth the trouble.

I believe the military calls this the exploitation phase. When a battle is all but won, you can either let the remaining enemy withdraw (and regroup) or you can keep pounding them until there is nothing left to fight with, without any real opposition because you have them in disarray and have destroyed their command and control ability. Brutal, inhuman, but extremely effective.

But in this case we haven't won anything yet. But we can exploit our enemies disarray and lack of coordination to maximum effect.

Stay home republicans, or vote for biden, but your candidate is a monstrous traitor who does not have your interests in mind in any action he takes.

[MineralMan]

13. I'm hoping that Republican turnout is down this year.

There may well be Republicans who don't want to vote for Trump, but who can't vote for Biden. They may just stay home and not vote at all. People often do that when they are faced with two options they think are bad.

[TheRealNorth]

14. I am not seeing a decrease in enthusiasm in my Republican relatives

If we are going to beat them, then WE have to beat them.

[Cosmocat]

27. YEP

This is a WWI trench warfare election.

[LisaL]

16. It's not.

They are also enthused, unfortunately.

[LisaL]

15. TX generally had low voter turnout.

Almost 50% of registered voters didn't vote in previous elections. So they can increase it easily to over a 100 % of 2016. In fact they can almost double the turnout.

[LeftInTX]

32. 59.73% in 2016

[Lonestarblue]

17. I voted already in Austin.

What is giving me hope that this is the election that will see Texas turn blue is that nearly 2 million new voters have been registered since 2016. Over the past several years, Texas has had an inflow of people moving from other states, many of them for technology jobs here. That often means younger voters who tend to lean more toward Democrats.

Travis County (Austin) has 97% of eligible voters now registered, an increase of 17.2% over 2016. Austin/Travis County are reliably blue. Harris County (Houston) increased registrations by 11% and Dallas County by 8.5%. Both counties typically vote blue. Bexar County (San Antonio), another blue area, saw a 13.1% increase in registrations.

I read somewhere that around 60% of these new registrations were voters under 25, so that may be good or bad. The key is whether they actually get out and vote. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[MineralMan]

18. My fingers are also crossed.

I never voluntarily lived in Texas, but I was there for Basic Training at Lackland AFB, and them for some more training at Goodfello AFB. I've drive across Texas, east to west many times, too.

I'll be watching the results from Texas very closely.

[Joinfortmill]

19. Still a lot of us yet to vote.

I chose to vote Nov. 3rd.

[MineralMan]

20. Absolutely.

[peggysue2]

21. Agreed, MM

Good news, indeed!

[Auggie]

22. Link?

[MineralMan]

33. Start here:

https://www.businessinsider.com/early-voters-texas-exceed-states-total-trump-turnout-2016-2020-10

[Texin]

24. Well, bear in mind that the rethugs are voting too.

They're just as whipped up for Hair Fuhrer as the Dems are enthusiastic to see him ridden out of DC on a burning rail. After four years of this neverending chaos, I will not allow myself to get optimistic.

[Nasruddin]

25. Not necessarily

However, it does mean that last-minute campaigning is going to have a smaller impact on the final outcome than it usually does.

While it is probably true that most of us who voted against Mr Trump in 2016 could've cast our 2020 votes on 09 Nov 2016 & likewise for the true believers ... this election is probably very, very close in critical swing states, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, & probably others.

It's still possible for Biden to win by 30 million votes but lose in the electoral college!

Everything is on persuading a few waffling Republican voters in these swing states & a few really undecides to vote Democratic in the next 11 days. They need really good reasons to break thru the cognitive dissonance & instincts to vote for Biden.

[CaptYossarian]

26. My wife and I voted yesterday afternoon.

There were two village employees and one other male voter in the entire building. No armed desperadoes or Boogaloo Eunuchs to be found.

The library has been closed for 7 months and the Police Chief was patrolling one last time before setting up at the school at 3 pm.

It was pretty peaceful until my wife's new shoes found a puddle in the parking lot. Then all hell broke loose.

[LeftInTX]

28. Texas has had an extra week of early voting

In 2016, 46.08% of registered voted early or by mail (mail during early voting period)
In 2020, 34.72% of registered voters have voted. (includes mail)

https://earlyvoting.texas-election.com/Elections/getElectionDetails.do

The MSNBC report that Texas increased voter turnout by 4,000% were not even based on early voting in previous elections, because there was no early voting 3 weeks before election day in previous elections.
2020 Registered Voters: 16,957,050
2016 Registered Voters: 15,015,700

Total Turnout 2016: 59.73%

[jb5150]

30. My brother and I voted yesterday in Florida ((Flagler county)

the line was long, but we were in and out in about an hour.

[Illumination]

31. Oh boy...another debate tonight! Hopefully another fiasco for Trump...