Early voting means 'election season' has already begun --[Reported by Umva mag]

Tuesday, Nov. 5, is Election Day – but if Americans vote like they did in the last two election cycles, most of them will have already cast a ballot before the big day.

Wisconsin kicks off early voting today; the first state to make absentee ballots widely available to voters. By the end of the month, more than half of all states will have ballots in at least some voters' hands, including Michigan and North Carolina.

It makes the next few months less a countdown to Election Day, and more the beginning of "election season."

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States have long allowed at least some Americans to vote early, like members of the military or people with illnesses. 

In some states, almost every voter casts a ballot by mail.

Many states expanded eligibility in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic made it riskier to vote in-person.

That year, the Fox News Voter Analysis found that 71% of voters cast their ballots before Election Day, with 30% voting early in-person and 41% voting by mail.

Early voting remained popular in the midterms, with 57% of voters casting a ballot before Election Day.

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Elections officials stress that voting early is safe and secure. Recounts, investigations and lawsuits filed after the 2020 election did not reveal evidence of widespread fraud or corruption. 

There are a few ways to vote before Election Day.

The first is early in-person voting, where a voter casts a regular ballot in-person at a voting center before Election Day.

The second is voting by mail or absentee ballot, where the process and eligibility vary by state.

Eight states vote mostly by mail, including California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. Registered voters receive mail ballots and send them back.

Most states allow any registered voter to receive a mail or absentee ballot and send it back. Depending on the state, voters can return their absentee ballot by mail, at a drop box, and/or at an office or facility that accepts mail ballots.

In 14 states, voters must have an excuse to vote by mail, ranging from illness, age, work hours or if a voter is out of their home county on Election Day.

States process and tabulate ballots at different times. Some states don’t begin counting ballots until election night, which delays the release of results.

This list of early voting deadlines is for guidance only. In some areas, early voting may begin before the dates listed. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes, and deadlines, go to Vote.gov and your state’s elections website.

Ballots will be made available to eligible absentee voters in Wisconsin starting today. The Midwestern state is one of the most competitive on the Fox News Power Rankings map. Virginia, Minnesota, and twelve more states kick off their early voting for at least some voters by the end of the week.

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Subject to change. In-person early voting in bold.

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