RICHMOND — Early-voting turnout in Virginia has dropped compared with the same period in 2020. As of Tuesday, Oct. 29, slightly more than 1.1 million Virginians have voted early.
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, that’s down from nearly 2.8 million early voters by this time in 2020. But one expert says it’s hard to draw definitive conclusions about what this means for the upcoming election.
Alex Keena, associate professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University, compared the numbers.
“Around this time in 2020, they were still lockdowns and there’s a big emphasis on early voting, vote by mail to prevent the spread of the virus,” he said. “So, a lot of folks who would normally vote in person opted to vote through mail voting. That may be part of the reason why.”
Keena noted several factors may have contributed to the decrease, including that early voting was new to Virginia in 2020 when Democrats gained control of the General Assembly. Virginia’s lengthy early voting period is among the most generous in the country, providing voters with 45 days, which is seen as ample opportunity to participate in elections.
Keena added one other reason for the decrease is that some voters may prefer casting their ballots on Election Day rather than participating in early voting.
“And then, another obvious reason is that there’s less enthusiasm or interest in this election. It seems hard to believe, since the campaign has been going on for so long, but it may well be that there’s just sort of fatigue and people are less interested,” he continued.
While much of the national attention is focused on the presidential race, Keena pointed to several key congressional races in Virginia, such as the 2nd and 7th districts. He noted that the first district race between incumbent Rep. Robert Wittman, R-Va., and Democrat Leslie Mehta is closer than it has been in a long time.
