Virginia absentee voting numbers over 4 times higher than 2016 election

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Saturday was the end of in-person early voting in the commonwealth, and many still waited in line after the deadline. The Department of Elections website says more than 2.7 million Virginians have already voted.

If you break that down even further, more than 1.8 million voted absentee in person.

Let’s compare that number to the 2016 election: Nearly four million people voted in that election across the commonwealth. Of those, 600,000 voted absentee.

In the 2020 election so far, that number has more than quadrupled already. There are still absentee ballots coming in that will be added to the absentee number.

It is important to keep in mind that this is the first year the commonwealth is allowing no-excuse absentee.

In-person absentee voting is now over, but you still have a few options left to vote. You can vote in person on Election Day and you can vote curbside.

“Curbside is available to everyone because of COVID-19 it used to be for voter 65 years or older with a physical disability, but now with COVID-19 we’re offering it to everybody we will have officers stationed outside looking for you in your car to bring your ballot to you,” said Mark Coakley, general registrar for Henrico County.

If you still have your absentee ballot, it needs to be postmarked by Tuesday or dropped off on Tuesday at your polling place.

“The Department of Elections and the State Board has issued guidelines that we are supposed to keep processing absentee ballots until we finish the last ballot or until we reach the 11 o’clock hour, then we will run the results and will post the results on to the state database,” said Teri Smithson, General Registrar, Hanover County.

If you are voting in person on Tuesday, you have from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. to cast your ballot. You must be in line by 7 p.m. to vote.

And, remember, we will not know officially who won the election on Election Day. Absentee and mail-in ballots can still be counted until Friday at noon.

We could, though, have a good idea of who won by Tuesday night, or we could not. The name of the game this week will be patience.

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