With less than a week before Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 3, states across the U.S. are seeing record voter turnout in early and absentee voting, and ballots cast as of Oct. 28 had already exceeded the total voter turnout in 2016.
In Texas, early votes as of Oct. 28 had come to approximately 90.8% of the total votes cast in 2016, well-ahead of the national average of 53%, according to statistics from the U.S. Elections Project. Early voting in the state had approximately 7.3 million in-person votes with less than a week left until Election Day, and 891,824 mail-in ballots returned.
John van Compernolle, of Anderson County, told the Upper East Texas News he had already cast his ballot and voted in every race and on each issue on the ballot. While he is concerned about the presidential race, van Compernolle said in his interview that he is also keeping an eye on local elections.
“We’re voting for judges and state representatives,” van Compernolle said, “The judges are probably, for me, the most important.”
Ultimately, van Compernolle said, this election comes down to a choice between the lesser of two sizes of government, both of which are too intrusive for van Compernolle’s preferences.
“I’m a strong believer in small federal government, and it seems to me that this election is a choice between the oversized government we have, and a much larger, much more intrusive government,” he explained.
His views on the role of government significantly influenced van Compernolle’s vote, he said.
“I see the role of government as being very narrow,” van Compernolles stated, “And that is to do nothing more than it has to do to protect liberty, property and life. And anything more government tries to do curtails liberty.”
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