After two years of a Donald Trump presidency that felt more like 20, the time for voting in the 2018 midterms has begun. News from the early voting polls are not just higher than average, it’s absolutely historic.
NEWS: Clark County turnout was 22,000 as of 3 PM, more than TWICE what it was entire first day in 2014 and 4,000 more than any midterm here in history. Will get up above 25K, I'd guess. Going to be interesting to see breakdown, but bodes well for Dems.
— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) October 20, 2018
Trump appeared in Nevada at a rally for Sen. Dean Heller, the Republican incumbent running against Rep. Jacky Rosen. Trump used all his famous campaign strategies, nicknaming the Democratic candidate “Wacky Jacky” and telling the crowd that the party of the left has become “an angry, ruthless, unhinged mob.”
Voter registration in Nevada favors Democrats by over 75,000 voters and early turnout is at record numbers. Early voting nearly always favors Democratic candidates.
Record early voting turnout in Tennessee in just 3 days. Check to see if you can vote early in your state: https://t.co/kmCNe6Pnkz https://t.co/trKYYKqRjM
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) October 20, 2018
In Tennessee, where Republican incumbent Marsha Blackburn is facing off against challenger Phil Breseden, local newspaper The Tennessean reports that turnout for early voting was “nearly four times the 32,565 people who voted on the first day of early voting for the 2014 midterm election.”
Yesterday was the first day of early voting in #Georgia, and Georgia is SHOWING UP! ??https://t.co/WlflhZs1rT
— Voto Latino (@votolatino) October 17, 2018
Georgia, where Republican candidate Brian Kemp happens to also be the secretary of state in charge of voter registrations and came under fire for his outrageous voter suppressions efforts, is also seeing record turnout for early voting. The Atlanta Voice reports that “258,449 people have voted early since the website began charting the general election cycle Sept. 24 compared to 67,732 at this point four years ago..”
Another 120,000+ votes were cast during the 2nd day of in-person early voting yesterday in NC. Cumulatively, 256,989 ballots have been cast during in-person early voting so far & 275,254 via all methods. This continues very robust turnout. Partisan breakdown attached #NCGA #NCPOL pic.twitter.com/xJtM5YVSAg
— Jonathan Kappler (@jonathankappler) October 19, 2018
The same is true in North Carolina, where 13 House candidates will be elected. The Greensboro News & Record writes that “the state elections board said Thursday that close to 133,000 people cast ballots statewide on Wednesday’s first day of early voting. In 2014, the total was just over 121,000.”
So far, all reports point to great news for Democrats.
Featured image via Flickr by Becky McCray under a Creative Commons license
