In-person voting begins for the US presidential contest, kicking off the sprint to Election Day

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In-person voting for this year’s presidential election began Friday, a milestone that kicked off a six-week sprint to Election Day after a summer of political turmoil.

Voters lined up to cast their ballots in Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia, the states with the first early in-person voting opportunities. About a dozen more states will follow by mid-October.

At a polling site in Minneapolis, Jason Miller arrived well before the polls opened at 8 a.m. and was first in line. He was among roughly 75 people who cast ballots in the first hour at the city's early voting center.

“Why not try to be first? That’s kind of fun, right?” said the 37-year-old house painter.

He said he voted “against crazy,” but didn’t want to name his choice for president.

“I don’t think I have to. I think that’s pretty obvious. I think that’s very, very clear," he said.

The beginning of in-person balloting follows a tumultuous summer in American politics that included President Joe Biden dropping out of the race and being replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, and an assassination attempt against Republican nominee Donald Trump followed by another apparent attempt on his life just nine weeks later.

Across the country, local election directors are beefing up their security to keep their workers and polling places safe while also ensuring that ballots and voting procedures won’t be tampered with. Officials and ordinary poll workers have been targets of harassment and even death threats since the 2020 presidential election.

Federal authorities are investigating the origin of suspicious packages that have been sent to or received by elections officials in more than 15 states in recent days, including Virginia.

“If I could wave a magic wand in this room right now, I would wish for two things: Between now and November 5th, I want to see high turnout and low drama,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said during a news conference Thursday that previewed his state’s efforts around the election season. Simon also serves as president of the National Association of Secretaries of State.

Some voters suggested that the potential for trouble or chaos on Election Day was one reason not to wait.

Chris Burda, 74, said she is encouraging others to get their ballots in early “to avoid potential disruption on Election Day or in-person voting by a certain party who seems to be interested in poll watching to the point of intimidation.” She cast her ballot for Harris at a Minneapolis voting center, saying the vice president was “standing up for democracy and the freedom to choose.”

As the start of early voting approached, Trump's rhetoric turned more ominous with a pledge to prosecute anyone who “cheats” in the election in the same way he falsely claimed they did in 2020, when he lied about widespread fraud and attacked officials who stood by their accurate vote tallies.

Trump has previously sought to sow doubts about mail voting and encouraged voters to cast ballots in person on Election Day. But this year, Trump and the Republican National Committee, which he now controls, have begun to embrace early and mail voting as a way to lock in GOP votes before Election Day, just as Democrats have done for years.

Eugene Otteson, 71, a Vietnam War veteran and former mill worker, was casting his early ballot for the former president in Anoka, Minnesota. He said he believes Trump will keep the country from intervening in foreign conflicts and will manage the economy like a business executive.

“Not that I like him, but he’s a business person, and I like someone who can run a business,” Otteson said. “With Kamala, you still don’t know what she stands for … I hear her going around say ‘joy, joy.’ Well, I can say joy to the world, but that don’t mean it’s going to stop the wars going on.”

In Virginia. early in-person voting has long been popular in the city of Chesapeake, especially during presidential elections, said its elections director, Mary Lynn Pinkerman.

She expects early voting to help ease the crowds on Nov. 5, but also cautioned that Election Day voting “is certainly not a thing of the past” and that “voters could still encounter wait times.”

Fairfax County Elections Director Eric Spicer said roughly a third of local voters came to the polls on Election Day during the 2020 presidential election, while the rest voted by mail or early and in-person.

"We call them our cicada voters who come out every four years,” he said, adding that he expects this year's presidential race to drive heavy turnout in his northern Virginia county.

In South Dakota, the top election official in Minnehaha County, the state’s most populous, is planning for an 80% overall turnout. Extra seasonal workers began Monday, and an early voting area was set up in the county administration building in Sioux Falls.

County Auditor Leah Anderson said the presidential race and several statewide ballot measures — including one that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and another to legalize recreational marijuana — will attract voters.

“There’s a lot on our ballot,” Anderson said.

Many early voters might opt for early in-person balloting instead of mail-in absentee ballots to ensure their votes get counted, given the ongoing struggles of the U.S. Postal Service.

State and local election officials from across the country last week warned that problems with mail deliveries threaten to disenfranchise voters, and they told the head of the system that it hasn’t fixed persistent deficiencies despite their repeated attempts at outreach.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy responded in a letter released Monday that he’ll work with state election officials to address their concerns, but reiterated that the Postal Service will be ready.

Simon urged voters to make their voting plans now. Mail delays vary across the country, he said, so voters should request mail-in absentee ballots early if they plan to vote from home, and return them early. Some states count ballots as long as they’re postmarked by Election Day, while Minnesota and other states count only the ballots that arrive by the time polls close.

“My hope and expectation is that the USPS will do the things that we have recommended, and do them quickly over the next 47 days because the stakes really are high for individual voters,” Simon said.

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Associated Press writers Olivia Diaz in Fairfax, Virginia, Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, Ben Finley in Chesapeake, Virginia, Michael Goldberg in Anoka, Minnesota, and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis contributed to this report.