Early voting impacts

Four million Marylanders voted already as the unofficial numbers were released by the Maryland Board of Elections for early voting. That's combined with reported upticks since the last midterms as well. Washington Post's Mariana Alfaro joins us now with more insight. Thanks so much for joining us. What do you take from the early voting numbers so far, not just here, but across the country? So as always a caveat, you can't really tell much about where people are voting from early vote numbers. We don't know their party affiliation, we don't know who they're casting a ballot for. But what we do know this time around is that people really are coming out in record numbers. And I'm particularly fascinated by Texas, where we're seeing numbers way higher than even 2018 when we had that big midterm surge there. So I think we've got to be watching, you know, swing states like, you know. North Carolina, Michigan, all of these states that are turning, you know, a little bit bluer. But a state like Texas that has been red for so long, I think the early voting numbers are going to tell us a lot about, you know, what we could see on Tuesday. You can't say, and you're absolutely right, we can't say for nationwide, for everybody who they're voting for or who is voting. But the Hispanic-Latino vote, as far as early voting, seems to be rather significant compared to more recent elections. Yes, I think I am seeing a rise of about 40% in Hispanic voters, especially in Texas, but across the country. It's been, I think, the highest increase in voter roll. And the fascinating thing about that is that, you know, it is a result of a lot of get-out-the-vote efforts. Latino voters historically, you know, have lower voter turnouts, but this might be the election that, you know, starts getting people to show up more to the polls, especially because it's a midterm race. Come out, you know, in droves for presidentials. But to see Latino voters this energized on a midterm is particularly fascinating. Do you think there's any specific reason why so much of the early voting and we talk about obviously turnout is going to be key for this particular election? Is it just because of concerns of being there on the actual election day? Is it just making sure that your vote is counted? Is there anything that stands out this time with so many people voting early? Yes, a lot of it is, you know, the environment has made people believe that maybe voting isn't safe, that maybe their ballots need to be cast and they have to make sure it's in person because, you know, they've been told that mail-in voting might not be safe, which is, you know, obviously there's no factual matter behind that. Voting in mail is still very safe. But I think I've heard, you know, from voters that they want to make sure that they see their ballot go in, and that is driving a lot of this early voting, whether it be on Republicans, whether it be amongst Democrats. So another big part of it is just, you know, ensuring that they get to go in, that they have the time, you know, who knows how long the lines will be in Tuesday. So everyone kind of has that chip of like, we need to show up early just to ensure that everything's in. Yeah, the early numbers are certainly there. Mariana, you've covered Congress for a long time. Is there any particular race on this eve of Election Day that you're watching extra close? Well, now I'm watching Michigan Senate race because there was a lot of turnaround yesterday where one of the former Democrat primary candidates there endorsed a Republican. So that's gonna be creating a little bit of tension on Capitol Hill. I'm imagining when she's back, she's Congresswoman Haley Stevens, she's still in the House, she's still a Democrat, but she endorsed a Republican in the Senate race. So I'm imagining that's gonna cause a bit of friction for everyone when they're back. Yes, always eyes on Texas. That's going to be a very, very interesting. Probably a very close Senate race, too. Yeah, and super expensive there for the amount of money that's poured into that race down in Texas and the Michigan one. Going to ruffle some feathers in the halls of Congress, for sure. We'll see if it makes any difference in the ballot box. Mariana, thanks for joining us, of course, with the Washington Post. You can follow her reporting there, which will be quite busy over the next couple of days. Let's get to Tuck in the meantime. Thanks, Mariana. Let's get to Tuck with a check on the forecast.