Election Day is not until November 5, but "election season" is just weeks away. The first ballots will be cast shortly after Labor Day, as many states begin absentee, mail-in, and early voting. North Carolina is the first state to start sending out absentee ballots on September 6, with dozens more states to follow suit before the end of the month. Five states (Illinois, Mississippi, South Dakota, Minnesota, Virginia) begin in-person early voting before the end of September, with most others to follow in October. Texas begins in-person early voting October 21.
Former Texas GOP Chair Steve Munisteri says like it or not, this is the new reality of elections. "It has been standard for quite a while in many states that the first military and absentee ballots go out in September, and now we have a good number of states that have early voting anywhere from about a month ahead to about six weeks ahead of Election Day," he tells KTRH. "So really, the election is not in November...the election starts in September and ends in November."
While many Republicans bristle at this idea of "election season," Munisteri argues the GOP needs to embrace it or risk losing the election. Republicans have underperformed expectations in the last few election cycles, and critics warn the party may be caught flat-footed again this year. "We can't unilaterally disarm, we can't say we're the party that prefers everyone to vote on Election Day so we only vote on Election Day, whereas the other party has many, many days to pick from," says Munisteri. "You just can't give the Democrats that advantage."
"I know most people I know would like to go back to the old system, but that's not gonna happen, and the bottom like is we need to win this election," he continues.
Photo: AFP