Early voting wraps in Virginia, with higher turnout than 2021

People waited in lines on the last day of early voting to cast their ballots for Virginia’s first female governor. Several said the race was too important to them to chance something coming up on Election Day that might keep them from the polls.

Over 1.4 million early votes were cast in Virginia as of Nov. 2, which is almost 300,000 more than the 2021 election, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project.

Polling places in Richmond and Henrico were bustling on Nov. 1, the final day of early voting.

There was about a 10-minute wait at the Richmond Office of Elections in the early afternoon. A fish and chips truck was there to reward voters with lunch, compliments of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. The organization was hosting its annual “Souls to the Polls” event.

The line to vote stretched outside the building at the Western Government Center in Henrico County around 3 p.m. Voters waited in line for nearly 40 minutes.

Party split on mail-in ballots

Early voting remains popular among Democratic voters, but is trending in popularity among Republican districts, according to VPAP data.

Republicans trailed Democrats by just over 100,000 votes for early voting in person, but a larger gap remained with mail-in ballots, according to VPAP data from Oct. 30.

Stephen Farnsworth, professor and director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington, stated that early voting has grown more popular since COVID-19. President Donald Trump cast doubts on the legitimacy of early voting, which left Republicans needing to work harder on Election Day to match early Democratic votes.

“Some people are traditionalists and they like voting on election day,” Farnsworth stated in an email. “They like running into their neighbors and chatting with them and with campaign workers stationed outside the voting venue.”

The Republican National Committee launched the “Bank Your Vote” campaign in 2023, initially endorsed by Trump, to encourage more Republican voters to vote early. That same year, Gov. Glenn Youngkin launched the “Secure Your Vote” initiative in Virginia, to encourage Republican voters to vote early and sign up for the permanent absentee voter list.

Trump announced on social media in August that he wanted to get rid of mail-in ballots because he believes they allow for voter fraud. No-excuse, mail-in voting is available for 28 states, including Virginia, according to The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.

Virginia does not require signature verification on mail-in ballots, but does require the voter to sign the ballot and fill out the last four digits of their social security number, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

From the polls: Thoughts on early voting

Richmond resident Brenda Mahoney voted early on the last day of the 45-day period. She usually votes on Election Day, but did not want to take a chance of the lines being too long. She said the Trump administration makes her feel more confident in the voting system.

“I always come in person,” Mahoney said. “I know my vote is counted if I come in person.”

Virginia’s early voting period is one of the longest in the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Richard Roberts and Deb Giffin volunteer with the Henrico County Republican Committee. They manned a table at the registrar’s office off Parham Road on the final day of early voting.

Roberts said early voting does not allow voters to have all the facts before casting a ballot. He mentioned that both the gubernatorial and attorney general debates took place after early voting began.

“I have a faith in people that if they knew the facts on the table, they wouldn't vote the way they did,” Roberts said.

Giffin said the long voting period costs the county too much money to staff, particularly in special elections. Giffin would rather see Election Day be a holiday or the early voting period reduced to 15 to 30 days. State employees do have the day off.

“The enthusiasm of compressing it into a shorter period of time may actually drive more people,” Giffin said.

Scott Shepherd, a volunteer with Henrico County Democrat Committee, noticed a lot of enthusiasm Saturday. He said a lot of people showed up in the last few days of early voting. Shepherd thinks the early voting period should be more widely publicized, so that lines could be shorter.

Meredith Hanbury, a Richmond resident and elections officer, voted early so she can focus on helping her neighborhood and community on Election Day.

Hanbury chose to vote in person over concerns about absentee ballots being lost in the mail and never reaching the voter. In this case, the elections office would mark the ballot as received, and the voter would then vote provisionally on Election Day until the office can confirm the absentee ballot was never received.

“It's another element of convenience, but early in person is way more effective in my opinion than having the paper absentee ballots,” Hanbury said.

Richmond resident Bryan Distin usually votes early so he does not have to take time off of work on Election Day. He likes that there is more voter accessibility.

“[Early voting] gives more access and availability for people that do have more stricter jobs and absentee balloting is very, very important,” Distin said. “So I think it does play an important role to make sure everyone has access to vote.”

Virginia Interfaith Center held its annual Souls to the Polls event at two Richmond voting locations.

Ramón Zepeda Ramos, an economic justice organizer with the organization, said the event originates from a tradition of congregations voting together after Sunday service. Since Richmond City did not offer Sunday hours this year, volunteers were out on Saturday.

“I have a family, I have kids, and a job, so sometimes it's really hard to go during the week or on Election Day,” Ramos said. “Having the option to vote on a Saturday is really nice because then I can take time to go when it's convenient for me and my family.”

Ramos said the organization also connects with congregations that assist elderly voters who may not be able to drive themselves to the polls.

Election Day is on Nov. 4. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.