Vote Early Day is a movement of nonprofits, businesses, election administrators, and creatives working to ensure all Americans know their options to vote early.
Vote Early Day was founded by MTV as a new civic holiday focused on helping every voter know how, where, and when they can vote early. Launched in the midst of a global pandemic, it became a critical resource to ensure no voter had to choose between their health and casting their ballot. In its first celebration, it attracted 134 premier partners and 2,700 general partners from every state in the nation. Over 3,000,000 voters cast their ballots on Vote Early Day alone!
When Americans vote early, they ensure that last-minute problems will not prevent them from casting their ballots – and help shorten voting lines on Election Day for everyone. But voting early rules – both for in-person and by-mail options – vary widely all over the country, causing confusion and preventing voters from casting their ballots. We’re here to make voting early easier.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Vote Early Day?
Saturday, October 23, 2021. Scheduled for the Saturday before Halloween, Vote Early Day occurs just as the nation as a whole fully tunes into the election and is ready to learn about their voting options.
How is Vote Early Day adapting for COVID-19?
In this election, states are increasingly adopting additional Vote Early options, such as vote-by-mail, and we are expecting more states to adopt changes. We will be tracking these changes to ensure all Americans know their options. Sign up for our email list to receive the most up to date information.
In the last presidential election, how many people voted early?
In the last presidential election, 40% of voters cast their ballots early. This election, we can increase that number and decrease waits and problems on Election Day for everyone. Experts predict record voter participation in 2020.
What options are available to vote early?
A number of early vote models to vote early exist. In some states, all registered voters receive a ballot by mail at least two weeks before Election Day. Due to fast changes in the law over the last several years the vast majority of voters can now vote early in some way. In 39 states and the District of Columbia, any qualified voter may cast a ballot in person during a designated period prior to Election Day. Two additional states will provide this option in the coming years.
What about the people who live in states without an early voting option?
If people do not live in a state with early voting they will be offered the opportunity to sign up to get information about how to vote on Election Day and receive notifications about their polling location and encourage them to vote.
Casting your ballot ahead of Election Day seems confusing. What are you doing to make it easier?
It is!! That is a big part of the reason we are creating Vote Early Day – to demystify and make it easier for voters to understand their options. In fact, Over 200 million Americans (~80% of eligible voters) have options to vote before Election Day with no excuse needed, they may just not know it. We are working to support or build new technology tools that enable Americans to more easily look up and explore their opportunity to cast their ballot ahead of Election Day – whether that’s an absentee ballot, in-person early voting, or a mail-in ballot. Believe it or not, no one has ever created an all-in-one tool that makes it easy to search your best option for your home address. Furthermore, by creating a national day of action amid of a patchwork of laws, we are drawing attention to a set of options that have historically have been hard to market nationally.
What Can People Do on Vote Early Day?
This is a collaboration among media companies, nonprofits, technology platforms, election administrators, influencers, and other businesses. We leave it up to each company or organization to understand what action might be best for their brand or community. Due to COVID-19, we will need to plan according to CDC guidelines. Activations might include:
- Spread the Word – Through on-air or digital marketing companies will teach Americans how to vote early and point them to local events and resources to cast a ballot.
- Employee engagement – Share resources and information about early voting with employees, promote the idea of poll working to your employees as you would a volunteer opportunity to make sure early voting sites are staffed and ready to go.
- Brand activations –Some brands are getting creative and looking to do more attention-grabbing activations such as parties, promotions, etc that encourage early voting.
