As new laws in 2020 give voters in Virginia more opportunities to vote, Matthews County, a rural community on the Chesapeake Bay, is outpacing most of the state in the percentage of registered voters that have already cast a ballot.
Virginians no longer need an excuse to vote early or to vote absentee. This comes after the General Assembly passed legislation early this year to increase access for citizens in the Commonwealth.
The Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) has released numbers that show the percentage of voters who have voted early by absentee compared to the total number of registered voters in that specific locality.
According to VPAP, Mathews County trails only two other localities in Virginia for this statistic. So far, 47.8% of registered voters in Mathews County have already voted.
Only Falls Church City and Arlington City have a higher percentage of turnout for registered voters. Mathews County voted overwhelmingly for President Donald Trump in 2016, winning by 36 points.
This is potentially an indicator to show that Democrats are not the only ones that have seen momentum at the polls this year, in Virginia.
Early voting continues for the rest of this week.
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