Huge lines of mostly Democratic voters have been waiting for hours for their turn at the polls across the country, and even here in New York State, where it is all but sure that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will prevail. It is also almost sure that most New York voters know that. New York State as a whole is looking like Biden country; according to a New York Times-Siena College poll released on Oct. 2, the former vice president had a 32-point lead.
So why the lines? Why not wait until Election Day, when all the regular voting locations will be open? Why not send an absentee ballot through the mail or find one of the county’s admittedly few dropboxes? The answer, generally, is twofold: sending a message and piling up a sizable popular vote win for the Democratic candidates to overcome any election interference or legal challenges. Then there is the specter of 2016, when would-be Hillary Clinton voters stayed away for reasons including a sense of inevitability and a relentlessly unfavorable campaign season capped by F.B.I. Director James Comey’s last-minute bombshell about her handling of official email, even though she won the popular vote.
So now, voters unhappy with the Donald Trump presidency are making sure they are heard, and there is no better way to do that than a coast-to-coast landslide. Vote early or vote on Tuesday, but vote. This time the fate of the nation is in your hands.