Welcome to the Wednesday, July 20, Brew.
By: Samuel Wonacott
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Nine states begin general election early voting in September
- The Republican candidates who raised the most money for state legislative House races in 10 states
- Meet us in Madison at the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) Summer Conference
Nine states begin general election early voting in September
Although we’re still in the midst of a busy primary season, the Nov. 8 general elections are quickly approaching—in 111 days, to be precise. With November right around the corner, now is a good time to look at when states will begin allowing early voting in the general elections.
In this election cycle, 45 states and Washington, D.C., will conduct no-excuse, in-person early voting for the November elections. In states that permit no-excuse early voting, a voter does not have to provide an excuse for being unable to vote on Election Day. A total of nine states begin early voting in September. Another 33 states and Washington, D.C., begin early voting in October. Three states begin early voting in November.
The earliest start date for early voting takes place on Sept. 19, in Pennsylvania, where early voting begins when absentee/mail-in ballots become available. Another three states – Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wyoming – begin their early voting periods on Sept. 23.
Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wyoming will have the longest early voting periods, opening on Sept. 23 and closing on Nov. 7—a total of 46 days. See the chart below for more details.
In 2020, 42 states and Washington, D.C. conducted no-excuse, in-person early voting. The earliest start date for early voting took place on September 18 in Minnesota, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wyoming. Eight states began early voting in September. The remaining 34 states and Washington, D.C., began early voting in October.
Since 2020, Delaware, Kentucky, and South Carolina have implemented permanent, no-excuse voting policies.
Click the link below to learn more about early voting in your state.
The Republican candidates who raised the most money for state legislative House races in 10 states
Earlier this week, we brought you data from our partnership with Transparency USA on the Democratic candidates and officeholders who raised the most money for state legislative House races in 10 states. Today, we’re looking at the top Republican fund-raisers in those same states.
Four of these candidates and officeholders raised more than $1 million: Dade Phelan of Texas ($2.9 million), Carrie DelRosso of Pennsylvania ($2.1 million), James Gallagher of California ($1.8 million), and Timothy Moore of North Carolina ($1.7 million). One of these candidates, Erik Mortensen of Minnesota ($90,777), raised less than $100,000. Collectively, these candidates raised $11.81 million and spent $8.30 million.
You can see the list of candidates and officeholders in the table below. Click on a link below to learn more about these candidates and their campaigns.
- Mark Finchem raised more than any other Republican House Rep. in Arizona
- James Gallagher raised more than any other Republican California State Assembly candidate
- Todd Huston raised more than any other Republican House candidate in Indiana
- Jason Wentworth raised more than any other Republican House Rep. in Michigan
- Erik Mortensen raised more than any other Republican House candidate in Minnesota
- Timothy Moore raised more than any other Republican House candidate in North Carolina
- Jay Edwards raised more than any other Republican House candidate in Ohio
- Carrie DelRosso raised more than any other Republican House Rep. in Pennsylvania
- Dade Phelan raised more than any other Republican House candidate in Texas
- Robin Vos raised more than any other Republican Wisconsin State Assembly candidate
This year, we plan to publish several hundred articles breaking down campaign finance numbers in the 12 states covered by Transparency USA: Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. To learn more about our partnership with Transparency USA, click below.
Meet us in Madison!
We exist to help solve one of the biggest issues state election directors face – the massive information gap. Voters come to the polls, ready to make their voices heard, but they don’t know who or what’s on the ballot until they get into the voting booth. A related problem for both voters and state election directors is that election administration is always changing. A few weeks ago, we introduced you to our Election Administration Legislation Tracker—a new tool for quickly and easily tracking election-related legislation in all 50 states.
Now, Ballotpedia founder and CEO Leslie Graves and Ken Carbullido, Vice President of Election Product and Technology Strategy, are attending the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) Summer Conference July 19-20. It’s the first time the conference has been in-person since February 2020.
This ballot information gap is particularly big for local offices, especially for the thousands of races and tens of thousands of candidates running for positions on school boards, municipal and county governments and more. Now multiply this problem by every state and every county, city, town, and village in the country.
We’ve made our goal to cover every single elected position in the nation. That’s more than 500,000 officials. Leslie and Ken are scheduling meetings with NASED attendees to discuss how we can work together to close the information gap.
If you’re attending NASED and would like to meet with Leslie or Ken, you can schedule a meeting here.
Click below to learn more about our Election Administration Legislation Tracker.