The first ballots of the 2024 election will be cast in September as early voting begins. From North Carolina to Pennsylvania, voters will start the process of selecting the candidates of their choice, including former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, to occupy seats of power.
Five states across the country will begin in-person early voting this month.
With 59 days until the final ballots can be cast, here’s everything you need to know about early voting and important election dates in September.
Early voting in America
North Carolina is leading the country in beginning early voting by absentee ballots. The state begins mailing out 2024 ballots on Friday, Sept. 6. However, it won’t commence in-person voting until mid-October.
3,629,461 North Carolinians voted early in the battleground state during the 2020 presidential while over a million cast a mail-in absentee ballot, according to the state’s election data. Trump carried the state four years ago by just over 1 percentage point.
Voters may begin early voting in Pennsylvania, another swing state, on Sept. 16. Trump flipped the Keystone state red in 2016 before losing it to President Joe Biden four years later.
Four other states will launch early voting this month. Voters in Minnesota (Sept. 20), Virginia (Sept. 20), Vermont (Sept. 21), and Illinois (Sept. 26) may cast a ballot for the candidate of their choice weeks ahead of Election Day.
Early voting has made significant strides in popularity since the 2016 presidential election. As the country came out of the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2020 election cycle, nearly 70% of the electorate cast their votes through either mail-in ballots or early in-person voting.
Only about 40% of people voted early in the 2016 election.
Election dates to remember
In four days, on Sept. 10, Harris and Trump will face off for their first presidential debate on ABC News. A vice presidential debate between Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) has also been suggested for Sept. 18, though the Harris campaign has not yet agreed to it. The two have agreed, however, to debate on Oct. 1 on CBS.
Sept. 18 is also the day Trump is set to be sentenced for his New York hush money case. The former president, who was found guilty in May on 34 felony counts and maintains his innocence, has asked for his sentencing to take place after the 2024 election.
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Two days before Trump is sentenced, his chief rival is set to conduct a long-awaited meeting with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Harris’s meeting with the powerful labor union on Sept. 16 comes after the Teamsters president spoke at the Republican National Convention in July.
Although Trump has vied to gain its support, the Teamsters, which boasts 1.3 million members, has not yet endorsed a presidential candidate.
