GALVESTON — Pat and Lori Dowell have voted on every Election Day for as long as they can remember. But for the first time, the Galveston couple this year decided to vote early.
That’s what they did Friday morning at the Galveston Community Center. The two had the day off work and decided to take advantage.
But the decision came with some anxiety.
Pat Dowell, 60, said he felt there’s a higher chance his ballot won’t be counted correctly by voting early. Lori Dowell, 54, noted she wouldn’t cast an early ballot if they lived in a larger city like Indianapolis.
Still, the couple felt comfortable enough giving it a try in their hometown of 1,275 people.
“It’s convenient,” Lori Dowell said. “You don’t have to worry about missing work or waiting in line.”
Jeremey Shanks, an ex-Democrat who now enthusiastically supports former President Donald Trump, also cast his ballot early for the first time Friday — but only after overcoming concerns that his vote wouldn’t be counted.
“I was thinking, ‘Should I wait until Election Day?” the Kokomo resident said. “The earlier you vote, the bigger chance they could lose it.”
GOP skepticism about early voting and absentee ballots has been a frustrating problem for the party. A new AP-NORC poll published Friday found that Republicans are much more uncertain than Democrats that ballots will be counted accurately.
Still, Republicans this year have been turning out in larger numbers nationwide since Trump shifted his position on early voting, calling the method safe. In 2020, he had sworn off early voting, but he’s now urging Republicans to vote however they can.
Despite some in Indiana still harboring fears about election security, over 1 million Hoosiers had cast an early ballot by Thursday. That’s about 21% of all registered voters and more than half of the total voter turnout (40%) in the 2022 midterm elections.
The surge in early voting speaks to how many see this year’s race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris as the most consequential election in their lifetime, argued Matthew Bergbower, a political scientist at Indiana State University.
“Even though this is not a battleground state, we’re seeing a lot of Harris and Trump ads just by watching football or other primetime shows,” he said . “We’re getting a whole lot of political messaging that says this race is important.”
That’s by design. Campaign strategists know nearly everyone has made up their minds about candidates by this point, Bergbower explained. The goal now is to make people concerned enough by what’s at stake to actually show up to vote.
“It’s a lot of dramatic messaging that is aimed at drawing out voters,” he said. “That’s the main motivator. It’s what campaigning is all about.”
Pat Dowell of Galveston said he’s very aware of the amped-up rhetoric from both campaigns, and he’s tired of hearing it.
“It’s all just hate-mongering,” he said. “The political climate has been off the wall. It’s ridiculous, but it does seem to be working and getting people to vote.”
The influx of early voters has led some counties to take extra steps to keep up with demand. Madison County this week added extra staff to five locations after voters cast more than 4,000 ballots in one day.
Others counties have struggled, leading to lines and hours-long wait times at some polling places around the state.
But likely even more than politics, the uptick in early voter turnout could stem from people becoming more comfortable with it, explained Jay McCann, a political scientist at Purdue University. A record number of Hoosiers tried it during the topsy-turvy election in 2020 amid the COVID pandemic.
“People are getting strategic and saving time by trying to figure out when is the best time to go,” McCann said. “I voted early, and that’s what I did.”
Shanks from Kokomo said that’s why he cast an early ballot for the first time, despite lingering doubts about the safety of the practice.
He stocks candy around north central Indiana and has been required to work overtime during Halloween. On Friday, he finally had a few hours free.
“I’ve got some time off, so I’m just gonna get it done early,” Shanks said.
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