Welcome to the Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, Brew.
By: Lara Bonatesta
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- There are 605 rematches this year between candidates who last faced off in 2020 or 2022
- Help Desk: What is a provisional ballot?
- 50 states in 25 days – Connecticut and Rhode Island
There are 605 rematches this year between candidates who last faced off in 2020 or 2022
With three weeks to go until Election Day, let’s take a look at some races where voters will be facing the same choices as they did the last time that seat was up for election.
We are tracking 605 rematches this year between candidates who last faced each other in 2020 or 2022. Of this total, 536 rematches are between candidates running for offices with two-year terms who last faced off in 2022, and 69 are between candidates running for offices with four-year terms who last faced off in 2020. They include 75 races for the U.S. House, three state executive races, 476 state legislative races, and 51 local races.
Of the 9,827 general elections that Ballotpedia is following on Nov. 5, 2024, about 6% are rematches.
Of the 132 rematches in 2024 between candidates who last met in 2022, about 25% were decided by a margin of 10 percentage points or fewer. Of the 42 rematches between candidates who last met in 2020, about 61% were decided by a margin of 10 percentage points or fewer.
Now, let’s take a closer look at each of the rematches at each level of government.
For the 75 U.S. House rematches, Democrats won 38 in 2022, and Republicans won 37. In 21 of those races, the victory margin was 10 percentage points or fewer.
According to The New York Times’ Robert Jimison, “Some candidates in rematch races said they had been encouraged to take another chance after hearing from supporters who were energized by how close they came to winning.”
For the three state executive rematches, Democratic candidates won the races for Vermont Lieutenant Governor and Vermont Secretary of State in 2022. While the Republican candidate won the Vermont gubernatorial election in the same year.
Of the 476 state legislative rematches, including legislative chambers in the U.S. Territories, 228 Democrats, 230 Republicans, and two nonpartisan candidates won those offices when they were last up for election. Popular Democratic Party candidates won nine races for the Puerto Rico House of Representatives in 2020, and New Progressive Party candidates won seven. In 123 of the 476 state legislative rematches, the margin of victory was 10 percentage points or fewer.
For the 51 local election rematches, Democratic candidates won nine races, Republicans won three, and nonpartisan candidates won 36 offices the last time they were up for election. Popular Democratic Party candidates won one race, and New Progressive Party candidates won two. In 30 of the 51 local election rematches, the margin of victory was 10 percentage points or fewer.
Help Desk: What is a provisional ballot?
Ballotpedia’s 2024 Election Help Desk, a major component of our Voter Toolkit, provides reliable, nonpartisan answers to more than 50 election-related questions. We started the project in 2020 and are excited to bring it back this year.
Today, let’s look at a topic covered in the Help Desk: What is a provisional ballot?
A provisional ballot, also known as a challenge or affidavit ballot, is used when a person’s eligibility to vote cannot be proven at the polls on Election Day. If, after the election, administrators determine that the person who cast the provisional ballot was eligible to vote, the vote is counted.
The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) requires most states to have a provisional balloting process. The act includes exceptions for states that had same-day voter registration or no voter registration requirement when the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 was enacted. Those states include Idaho, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Currently, every state except Idaho and Minnesota has established a provisional voting process.
Although federal law mandates provisional voting processes, the states define them, and provisional balloting can vary widely from state to state.
According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Election Administration and Voting Survey 2020 Comprehensive Report (EAVS), states reported that the most common reasons for offering provisional ballots included:
- An election official challenging the voter’s eligibility to vote
- The voter not being on the list of eligible voters
- The voter lacking proper identification
- The voter not residing in the precinct in which they were attempting to vote
- Another person (not an election officer) challenging a voter’s eligibility to vote
According to the 2022 EAVS report, the percentage of provisional ballots has declined in recent years, with 0.5% of voters who cast a ballot in 2022 using a provisional ballot, 0.8% in 2020, and 1.3% in 2018. According to the report, the total number of provisional ballots cast also declined from 1.9 million in 2018, 1.7 million in 2020, and roughly 702,000 in 2022.
50 states in 25 days – Connecticut and Rhode Island
Continuing our 50 states in 25 days coverage, today we will look at what’s on the ballot in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Yesterday, we gave readers a look at what voters in Arkansas and Massachusetts can expect to see on their ballots. With 11 business days between now and the final Friday before the election, let’s continue looking into what’s on the ballot across the nation.
Connecticut
Let’s take a look at Connecticut’s elections. Here are some key dates and deadlines.
- The deadline for registering to vote in person, by mail, or online is Oct. 18. Mail-in voter registration applications must be postmarked by Oct. 18. Early voting starts Oct. 21 and ends Nov. 3.
- All polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Everyone in line when polls close must be allowed to vote. Voters can find polling locations here.
Here’s what is on the ballot:
- Voters will elect one U.S. Senator and five U.S. Representatives. All six federal incumbents are running for re-election.
- All 151 seats in the state House and all 36 seats in the state Senate are up for election. There are 10 open seats in the state House and one open seat in the state Senate.
- Voters in Connecticut will decide on one statewide ballot measure.
Rhode Island
Now, let’s check out Rhode Island’s elections, starting with some key dates and deadlines.
- The deadline for registering to vote in person, by mail, or online was Oct. 6. Mail-in voter registration applications needed to be postmarked by Oct. 6. Early voting began Oct. 16 and ends Nov. 4.
- All polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Everyone in line when polls close must be allowed to vote. Voters can find polling locations here.
What’s on the ballot?
- Voters will elect one U.S. Senator and two U.S. Representatives. All three incumbents are running for re-election.
- All 38 seats in the state Senate and all 75 seats in the state House are up for election. There are five open seats in the state Senate and six in the state House.
- Five statewide ballot measures were certified for the ballot in Rhode Island.
- Local ballot measures will be on the ballot in Providence County. Ballotpedia is covering local ballot measures that appear on the ballot for voters within the 100 largest cities in the U.S.
Want to learn more about the elections you’ll be voting in this year? Click here to use our Sample Ballot Lookup tool!
The information above is just a small snippet of the detailed information on Ballotpedia for each state. You can check out our deep dive into Connecticut’s 2024 elections here and Rhode Island’s 2024 elections here.
Also, make sure to check our hub page, linked below, for future installments of the series.