Early Voting as Strategy of Candidates and Organizations Candidates, party organizations and issue-oriented groups have an incentive to encourage their supporters to vote early. Rather than wait to see who turns out on Election Day, it is safer to bank votes early in the election season. Four percent of likely voters report already voting early in the current election. The actual election is scheduled to be held on November 3 rd . Forty-four percent of likely voters are not all interested in early voting this year.
Early voting has the potential of changing the dynamics of future elections.
Candidates would have to put a lot of resources into the early part the election season hoping to win the support of early voters. Focusing only on the 28 percent of likely voters that has either already voted early or is considering voting early this year reveals that Republicans are more interested in early voting than Democrats. Whereas 32 percent of Republican likely voters express an interest in early voting this year, only 23 percent of Democrats express a similar interest. Additionally, older voters are somewhat more interested in early voting than younger voters. The statewide telephone poll of likely voters was conducted between September 30 and October 8, 1998.