Tuesday's Gone

<P>Election Day as it was once known is no more. In 2020 with COVID-19 raging over 60 percent of American voters cast early ballots. Even before the pandemic more than one-third of voters routinely did so. Early voting represents a radical change in American elections. It means new options for voters new procedures for election clerks and new challenges for political candidates. In Tuesday’s Gone Elliott Fullmer explores the effects of this new reality. Applying new data and innovative methods he reports that early voting is bringing new citizens to the polls. Examining four recent elections he finds that both early in-person and absentee options increase turnout by several points when aggressively implemented by state and local officials. But early voting does come with some side effects. Fullmer cautions that early voting increases down-ballot roll-off widens racial disparities in voting access and alters the competitive environment in presidential nomination contests. </P>