What happens to early votes already cast for Klobuchar and Buttigieg?
Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg have both withdrawn from the Democratic presidential primaries. With them no longer running, what happens to those who voted for them early?
The sudden exits by Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar from the Democratic presidential primary race has left Super Tuesday voters wondering what to do if they’ve already cast an early ballot for the former South Bend, Ind., mayor or the Minnesota senator.
The short answer is nothing.
While some states allow absentee voters to change their choice by requesting a new ballot or by turning in their old ballot at a polling place for a new one, early voters in Super Tuesday states who chose Buttigieg or Klobuchar – or billionaire Tom Steyer or any of the other candidates who have suspended their campaigns – are out of luck.
“With primaries, casting a ballot early does have some downsides,” Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, the president of the U.S. Vote Foundation, told Fox News. “A lot of ballots are just wasted.”
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The only Super Tuesday state that allows voters to change their ballot is Minnesota, but lawmakers in the Land of 10,000 Lakes set a deadline of Feb. 25 to switch votes – meaning that supporters of candidates like Buttigieg and Klobuchar would have had to have some really prescient knowledge if they wanted to select another Democratic contender.
In California, which is the biggest prize on Super Tuesday with 416 delegates up for grabs, almost 3 million of the state’s 20.6 million registered voters have already cast an early ballot. State election officials have not released any preliminary results from the early votes, but of the 20 Democrats whose names appear on the ballot, almost half have formally suspended their campaigns since late December.
Voters who have marked their absentee ballots for a former candidate but have not mailed them in yet will get a chance for a do-over. They can forfeit that ballot at a local polling place and ask for a new ballot.
“People who have been the laziest are going to be rewarded in this case,” Dzieduszycka-Suinat said.
While supporters of Buttigieg and Klobuchar who have cast their ballots in Super Tuesday states may be out of luck, those in both Michigan and Wisconsin.
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In Michigan, voters have the option of “spoiling” their ballots, which means that ballot no longer counts, and then requesting a new one. Voters can either request a new absentee voter ballot be mailed to them until 2 p.m. Saturday, March 7 or pick one up in person at their city or county clerk’s office until 4 p.m. Monday, March 9 – the day before the state’s primary.
In Wisconsin – despite implementing a number of strict voting laws under former Republican Gov. Scott Walker – the state still allows finicky voters to change their choice multiple times before their vote is counted.
“Wisconsin allows you to take three swings at it,” Reid Magney, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Elections Commission, told Fox News.
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