Election Season Begins Friday with Mail-In Voting in North Carolina

Friday officially marks the beginning of election season, as the swing state of North Carolina starts its mail-in ballot process, kicking off months of early and mail-in voting around the nation — though there could be a delay.

The mail-in voting process is scheduled to begin Friday in North Carolina when the state starts mailing ballots to voters who request them. But a challenge from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who suspended his campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump — to withdraw from the ballot could force a delay, the Associated Press noted.

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Kennedy’s camp will make its argument on Thursday before a Wake County judge, WRAL noted. If the judge rules in Kennedy’s favor, millions of ballots will be reprinted to exclude his name.

Kennedy’s lawyers argue that the state officials “have no compelling reason to justify forcing Kennedy to stay on the ballot,” per the outlet.

“To the extent their ‘practicality’ test is grounded in the cost and time needed to print correct ballots, this is an issue of Defendants’ own making,” the lawsuit adds.

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And while North Carolina is the first state to start mail-in voting, another critical swing state, Pennsylvania, will be the first to offer early in-person voting, beginning in just 11 days. Per a map compiled by Axios, the following are the dates early in-person voting starts in the seven critical swing states:

• Pennsylvania: Monday, September 16 – 50 days before election day.
• Arizona: Wednesday, October 9 – 27 days before election day.
• Georgia: Tuesday, October 15 – 21 days before election day.
• North Carolina: Thursday, October 17 – 19 days before election day
• Nevada: Saturday, October 19 – 17 days before election day
• Wisconsin: Tuesday, October 22 – 14 days before election day
• Michigan: Sunday, October 27 – Nine days before election day

Early and mail-in voting were the primary modes by which voters cast their ballots in 2020, Axios noted, with more than one hundred million making their voices heard before election day. Of course, that election was conducted during the coronavirus pandemic, but the voting methods were also very prominent in the 2022 midterms.

America’s embrace of a long-term voting window has changed the contours of electoral strategy. Candidates have traditionally aimed to surge or peak in late October or early November, but early voting throws a wrinkle in that strategy as many Americans will vote throughout September and early October. In other words, candidates must also surge at the right points in the early voting window.