There are 88 days until Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

But if Americans vote like they did in the last two election cycles, most of them will have already cast a ballot before the big day.

Early voting starts as soon as Sept. 6 for eligible voters, with seven battleground states sending out ballots to at least some voters the same month.

It makes the next few months less a countdown to Election Day, and more the beginning of ‘election season.’

States have long allowed at least some Americans to vote early, like members of the military or people with illnesses. 

In some states, almost every voter casts a ballot by mail.

Many states expanded eligibility in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic made it riskier to vote in-person.

That year, the Fox News Voter Analysis found that 71% of voters cast their ballots before Election Day, with 30% voting early in-person and 41% voting by mail.

Early voting remained popular in the midterms, with 57% of voters casting a ballot before Election Day.

Elections officials stress that voting early is safe and secure. Recounts, investigations and lawsuits filed after the 2020 election did not reveal evidence of widespread fraud or corruption. 

The difference between ‘early in-person’ and ‘mail’ or ‘absentee’ voting.

There are a few ways to vote before Election Day.

The first is , where a voter casts a regular ballot in-person at a voting center before Election Day.

The second is , where the process and eligibility varies by state.

Eight states vote mostly by mail, including California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. Registered voters receive ballots and send them back.

Most states allow any registered voter to request a mail ballot and send it back. This is also called mail voting, or sometimes absentee voting. Depending on the state, voters can return their ballot by mail, at a drop box, and/or at an office or facility that accepts mail ballots.

In 14 states, voters must have an excuse to vote by mail, ranging from illness, age, work hours or if a voter is out of their home county on Election Day.

States process and tabulate ballots at different times. Some states don’t begin counting ballots until election night, which delays the release of results.

Voting begins on Sept. 6 in North Carolina, with seven more battleground states starting that month

This list of early voting dates is for guidance only. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, go to Vote.gov and your state’s elections website.

The first voters to be sent absentee ballots will be in North Carolina, which begins mailing out ballots for eligible voters on Sept. 6.

Seven more battleground states open up early voting the same month, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nevada.

September deadlines

In-person early voting in bold.

Sept. 6

North Carolina – Absentee ballots sent to voters

Sept. 16

Pennsylvania – Mail-in ballots sent to voters

Sept. 17

Georgia – Absentee ballots sent to military & overseas

Sept. 19

Wisconsin – Absentee ballots sent

Sept. 20

Arkansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, Wyoming – Absentee ballots sent to military & overseas
Minnesota, South Dakota – In-person absentee voting begins
Virginia – In-person early voting begins
Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia – Absentee ballots sent

Sept. 21

Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington – Absentee ballots sent to military & overseas
Indiana, New Mexico – Absentee ballots sent
Maryland, New Jersey – Mail-in ballots sent

Sept. 23

Mississippi – In-person absentee voting begins & absentee ballots sent
Oregon, Vermont – Absentee ballots sent

Sept. 26

Illinois – In-person early voting begins 
Michigan – Absentee ballots sent
Florida, Nevada – Mail-in ballots sent
North Dakota – Absentee & mail-in ballots sent

Sept. 30

Nebraska – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 4

Connecticut – Absentee ballots sent

Oct. 6

Michigan – In-person early voting begins 
Maine – In-person absentee voting begins & mail ballots sent
California – In-person absentee voting begins & mail ballots sent
Montana – In-person absentee voting begins
Nebraska – In-person early voting begins 
Georgia – Absentee ballots sent
Massachusetts – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 8

California – Ballot drop-offs open
New Mexico, Ohio – In-person absentee voting begins
Indiana – In-person early voting begins
Wyoming – In-person absentee voting begins & absentee ballots sent

Oct. 9

Arizona – In-person early voting begins & mail ballots sent

Oct. 11

Colorado – Mail-in ballots sent
Arkansas, Alaska – Absentee ballots sent

Oct. 15

Georgia – In-person early voting begins
Utah – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 16

Rhode Island, Kansas, Tennessee – In-person early voting begins
Iowa – In-person absentee voting begins
Oregon, Nevada – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 17

North Carolina – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 18

Washington, Louisiana – In-person early voting begins
Hawaii – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 19

Nevada, Massachusetts – In-person early voting begins 
Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas – In-person early voting begins 
Colorado – Ballot drop-offs open

Oct. 22

Hawaii, Utah – In-person early voting begins 
Missouri, Wisconsin – In-person absentee voting begins

Oct. 23

West Virginia – In-person early voting begins

Oct. 24

Maryland – In-person early voting begins

Oct. 25

Delaware – In-person early voting begins

Oct. 26

Michigan, Florida, New Jersey, New York – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 30

Oklahoma – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 31

Kentucky – In-person absentee voting begins

MINNEAPOLIS – ‘Squad’ member Ilhan Omar’s GOP challenger is warning Americans being newly introduced to Gov. Tim Walz that she believes his policies as governor are just as progressive as those of the controversial Minnesota congresswoman. 

He’s behind her 100%,’ GOP congressional candidate Dalia Al-Aqidi told Fox News Digital about Walz’s ties to her opponent, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.

‘Look at the Squad, the first people, the first politicians who supported his nomination were the far-left, with the progressives posting on social media the photos of Walz,’ Al-Aqidi said. ‘Our attorney general, Keith Ellison. They were celebrating this, thinking that this is good for our country. No, we don’t want socialism in our country. It failed in its origins. It’s not going to help here.’

Al-Aqidi, whose family fled the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein in Iraq before she made her way to the United States working as a journalist across the globe, took issue with the media narrative that Walz is a ‘middle of the road’ or ‘moderate’ politician.

‘Saying Walz is moderate is just like saying Ilhan Omar is pro-Israel,’ Al-Aqidi said. ‘If you believe that, then you would believe that. Of course, Walz wasn’t chosen because of his high profile. It’s that they match. I mean, his policies. If we look at what happened in our district in Minneapolis, or at least for the past three years, it’s because of Governor Walz’s policies. It was on his watch when the whole world watched our city being burned, and he didn’t do anything.’

‘He didn’t support our law enforcement. He didn’t support us. Look at the violence rates and the crime rates and we are suffering,’ Al-Aqidi continued. ‘I invite everybody, everybody who supports Walz, I invite them to come and see Minneapolis and see how sad our downtown is, let alone the scandals, let alone the corruption. He’s far from a moderate.’

Al-Aqidi made the case that because VP Harris promoted a fundraiser to bail BLM rioters out of jail and Walz waited several days to call in the National Guard, the two of them together on a presidential ticket is ‘going to turn into’ Minnesota’s 5th District.

 ‘If they are in charge, she supported bailing the criminals who were detained after the riots and after the burning and destruction . . . so I think that this is the first time in American history that we have two very far-left progressives on the ticket. This is very dangerous.’

Omar and Walz have repeatedly praised each other over the years, and Omar was quick to celebrate Walz’s nomination as vice president on social media with a photo alongside the governor.

‘Our North Star state Governor has signed universal school meals, paid family and sick leave, marijuana legalization, and protections for reproductive rights into law,’ Omar posted on X. ‘Bringing Minnesota nice to the ticket’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign and Omar’s office for comment but did not receive a response.

Minnesota will hold their primaries on August 13th where Al-Aqidi is running unopposed, and Omar is expected to defeat her three Democratic challengers.

Former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris are neck-and-neck in key swing states, according to a poll released Wednesday.

A survey conducted by Ipsos found the Republican presidential nominee and his Democratic opponent are in a dead heat struggle for seven swing states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.

Harris receives 42% of the vote share in the seven swing states, compared to Trump’s 40% and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy’s 5%.

Ipsos said in their report that the ‘margin on the ballot is well within the margin of error, indicating a race that is too close to call.’

Approximately 52% of respondents in the swing states said that inflation is the most important issue facing the country, while 32% said immigration is the most pressing matter.

The Ipsos poll was conducted between Jul. 31 and Aug. 7 — the Harris campaign announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Aug. 6.

Pollsters have not had enough time to effectively survey the impact of Walz’s selection on Harris’s chances.

The campaign has made it a point to highlight Walz’s Midwestern roots and everyman persona, introducing him as ‘Coach Walz’ during rallies in a nod to his time as a teacher and high school football coach.

Harris will lean on Walz in the critical Midwestern swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin, where the Minnesota governor can point to his regional ties.

The Ipsos poll utilized a representative probability sample of 2,045. 

Respondents consisted of U.S. adults 18 or older living in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Ipsos reports a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate has been met with delight by radicals and socialists throughout the U.S., fueling Republicans who say the two form a radical left-wing ticket.

Walz was announced as the pick for the 2024 Democratic ticket Tuesday, shocking many who thought Harris might choose Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has been portrayed by Democrats as ‘more moderate.’

Some left-wingers had lobbied against Shapiro and reacted with delight to the pick of Walz, who has embraced a number of left-wing positions on issues like immigration. Many heralded the pick as one of their own.

‘Harris choosing Walz as a running mate has shown the world that [Democratic Socialists of America] and our allies on the left are a force that cannot be ignored. Through collective action, DSA and the US left more broadly have made it clear that change is needed. DSA members organized in our workplaces and unions to realign the labor movement to support Palestinian liberation,’ Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist group in the U.S., posted to X Tuesday. 

Democratic socialist icon Bernie Sanders, who had urged Harris to pick Walz as her running mate, was similarly delighted.

‘[Walz] is a great asset to [Harris’] winning campaign & administration. He is a former public school teacher, football coach, and strong union supporter,’ Sanders said on X. ‘As governor, he delivered for working families in MN. As VP, he will deliver for the working families of the US.’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., described the pick as an ‘excellent decision.’

‘Together, they will govern effectively, inclusively, and boldly for the American people. They won’t back down under tight odds, either – from healthcare to school lunch,’ she said on X. ‘Let’s do this.’

Fellow ‘Squad’ member Ilhan Omar was similarly gushing about Walz.

‘Our North Star state Governor has signed universal school meals, paid family and sick leave, marijuana legalization, and protections for reproductive rights into law,’ she said. ‘Bringing Minnesota nice to the ticket.’

‘It’s Walz baby let’s go!!’ Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., said.

While there is rarely such a thing as a bad endorsement, it has given fuel to Republicans who have sought to paint the Harris-Walz ticket as far left.

‘Harris Feels the Bern and picks Walz. Thank you, Kamala! Governor Tim Walz is a dream for the radical Left,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said.

‘The Democrat Party makes history as they anoint Harris-Walz to the ballot this November representing the most radical Far Left wing ticket in history,’ said House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y. ‘Walz was a failed Member of Congress, is a failed Governor who supported Defund the Police BLM that torched cities to the ground. All while Kamala fundraised to bail out violent criminals from prison.’

Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., of the neighboring state of Wisconsin, wrote in a statement, ‘While Minnesota burned, Tim Walz did nothing and watched. While Minnesota burned, Kamala Harris helped violent rioters get out of jail. This is the SOCIALIST dream.’

Walz has been dismissive of socialist comparisons, even painting it in a positive light by associating it with ‘neighborliness.’

‘Don’t ever shy away from our progressive values,’ the Minnesota Democrat said on a ‘White Dudes for Harris’ call last week. ‘One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.’

Fox News’ Emma Colton, Liz Elkind and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a new interview with Time Magazine, apologized for the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas terrorists happening on his watch, and warned that the country now faces a ‘full-fledged Iranian axis.’

Netanyahu had been prime minister for almost a year when Hamas terrorists launched the attack on southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead and hundreds more taken as hostages in Gaza. 

In an interview conducted on Aug. 4 at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, Time asked Netanyahu whether he would apologize for the Oct. 7 attack, noting his 17-year cumulative political career has been built on the argument that he is the best leader to ensure Israel’s safety.  

‘Apologize?’ Netanyahu asked. ‘Of course, of course. I am sorry, deeply, that something like this happened. And you always look back and you say, ‘Could we have done things that would have prevented it?’’

Ten months after what amounted to the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, the Biden administration has increasingly grown frustrated with Netanyahu for failing to deliver a plan to end the war and get the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas home. 

Israel now faces more fronts – in the north with Hezbollah in Lebanon, in the Gulf with the Houthis in Yemen – and now is bracing for an aerial assault from its main enemy, Iran. 

‘We’re facing not merely Hamas,’ Netanyahu told TIME. ‘We’re facing a full-fledged Iranian axis, and we understand that we have to organize ourselves for broader defense.’

According to a July poll by Israel’s most watched television station, 72% of Israelis believe Netanyahu should resign now or after the conflict ends. 

Critics, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war to further his own political ambition. 

‘Netanyahu is focused on his longevity in power more than the interests of the Israeli people or the State of Israel,’ Barak told Time. ‘It will take half a generation to repair the damage that Netanyahu has caused in the last year.’ 

Netanyahu argued that Israel must demolish every element of Iran’s ‘axis of resistance’ in the region to ensure that Israel is never subjected to future massacres and that Hamas can no longer lay claim to Palestinian territories.

‘Being destroyed has bigger implications about Israel’s security,’ Netanyahu told Time, describing the war as existential. ‘I’d rather have bad press than a good obituary.’

Netanyahu delivered a speech to Congress in Washington, D.C., on July 25 to rally support from Israel’s closest ally, but nearly 130 Democrats and Vice President Harris declined to attend. 

‘I don’t think that the much-reported erosion of support among some quarters of the American public is related to Israel,’ Netanyahu told Time. 

‘It’s more related to America,’ he added, referencing a Harvard-Harris survey in January showing that 80% of respondents supported Israel, while 20% supported Hamas. 

‘There’s a problem that America has,’ Netanyahu said, noting a significant amount of support for a terrorist organization. ‘It’s not a problem that Israel has.’

The Biden administration and former President Trump have both expressed a desire for the war to end. Netanyahu has noted in the past that Israel did not start the war, but must be able to end it for its future security.

When U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew to Tel Aviv earlier this year, he reportedly told Netanyahu to bring the war to a close, because Israeli forces had already ensured that another Oct. 7 couldn’t happen again. Netanyahu reportedly replied that wasn’t his objective. Instead, he said, the goal was to ‘completely destroy Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.’

‘We’ve gone out of our way to enable humanitarian assistance since the beginning of the war,’ Netanyahu told Time, responding to allegations brought by Columbia professor Rashid Khalidi that the Israeli operations amounted to ‘collective punishment’ of civilians for Hamas’ actions. 

Time noted how Netanyahu embraced a policy over the past 10 years allowing Qatari funds to flow into Gaza after Hamas rose to power first through elections and later by force. It was meant as an incentive for Hamas to govern peacefully but instead financed miles of terror tunnels under civilian infrastructure. Also in January 2023, Netanyahu led government reforms that curbed judiciary powers, prompting large-scale protests. 

‘You are weakening us, and our enemy is going to see it, and we’re going to pay the price,’ former Minister of Defense Benny Gantz cautioned Netanyahu at the time. 

The prime minister placed blame on the protesters, many of whom said they would not serve in the Israeli military if the country’s democratic institutions were weakened. 

Netanyahu said his biggest mistake, however, was not going to war with Hamas in the past, listening to his security cabinet, which opposed such a move. For years, Israel’s strategy was to respond to Hamas’ attacks periodically by striking back and damaging them to the point of the terror group agreeing to a cease-fire that ultimately kept them in control of Gaza, with the ability to bolster their terror infrastructure that includes a complex network of underground tunnels.

Time reported that when Israel did go to war against Hamas for less than two months in 2014, Israeli officials said the security cabinet brought Netanyahu a plan to end the terror organization. The plan was predicted to lead to the deaths of approximately 10,000 Gazan civilians and 500 Israeli soldiers.

‘There was no domestic support for such an action,’ Netanyahu told Time regarding that plan. ‘There was certainly no international support for such an action – and you need both.’

Former President Trump said President Biden had ‘the right to run’ for re-election and the Democratic Party ‘took it away’ from him, while blasting his new opponent Kamala Harris as the ‘least admired, least respected, and worst vice president in the history of our country.’ 

Trump held a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday afternoon after holding off-the-record meetings with major media outlets. The Trump campaign said the Republican presidential nominee wanted to address the media ‘while they were already in Palm Beach because he’s the most transparent candidate in history.’ 

Trump said Thursday that the U.S. is in ‘the most dangerous period of time I’ve ever seen for our country.’ 

‘We have somebody that hasn’t received one vote for president, and she’s running, and that’s fine with me, but we were given Joe Biden, and now we’re given somebody else,’ Trump said. ‘I think, frankly, I’d rather be running against somebody else, but that was their choice.’ 

Trump said Harris is ‘a radical left person at a level that nobody’s seen,’ and said her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is a ‘radical left man that has positions that are not even possible to believe they exist.’ 

‘He’s heavy into the transgender world, heavy into lots of different worlds having to do with safety. He doesn’t want to have borders, he doesn’t want to have walls. He doesn’t want to have any form of safety for our country,’ Trump said. ‘He doesn’t mind people coming in from prisons and neither does she — I guess because she couldn’t care less.’ 

Harris formally became the nominee after Biden suspended his re-election campaign and endorsed her amid pressure from within the Democratic Party. The Democratic National Committee formally nominated Harris as their nominee this week. 

‘The presidency was taken away from Joe Biden, and I’m no Biden fan,’ Trump said. ‘From a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint you look at, they took the presidency away, and people are saying he lost after the debate and he couldn’t win.’ 

‘Whether he could win or he couldn’t, when he had the right to run, and they took it away, and they said they would use the 25th Amendment,’ Trump continued. 

Trump said the pressure from within the Democrat Party and ‘what they’ve done’ is ‘pretty incredible.’ 

‘Now I’m running against somebody else, and we’re leading. We’re leading — so I’m not complaining,’ he said. ‘I’m saying, for a country with a Constitution that we cherish — we cherish this Constitution — to have done it this way is pretty severe, pretty horrible.’ 

Trump said he thought Democrats ‘would have gone out to a vote’ or ‘would have had a primary system.’ 

‘But just to take it away from him like he was a child?’ Trump said, adding that Biden is ‘a very angry man right now.’ 

‘I can tell you that he’s not happy with Obama, and he’s not happy with Nancy Pelosi,’ Trump said. ‘He’s not happy with any of the people that told him ‘you’ve got to leave.’ He’s very unhappy, very angry.’ 

Trump said he thinks Biden ‘also blames’ Harris. 

‘He’s trying to put up a good face, but it is a very bad thing in terms of a country when you do that,’ Trump said. ‘I’m not a fan of his, as you probably have noticed, and he had a rough debate, but that doesn’t mean that you just take it away like that.’ 

He added: ‘You go out to a vote, you do something — he had 14 million votes. She had no votes.’ 

‘And she’s crashing,’ Trump said. 

‘We have a vice president who is the least admired, least respected, and the worst vice president in the history of our country. The most unpopular vice president,’ he said of Harris. 

Trump also slammed Harris for not engaging with the media. Harris has been the de facto Democratic nominee for 18 days, and she has not held a formal press conference or sat for a wide-ranging interview. 

‘She’s not doing any news conference. You know why she’s not doing it? Because she can’t do a news conference. She doesn’t know how to do a news conference,’ Trump said. ‘She’s not smart enough to do a news conference.’ 

Trump said he is ‘very happy to run against’ Harris, and said he ‘hates to be defending’ Biden, but pointed to the Constitution again. 

‘We have a Constitution. It’s a very important document, and we live by it. She has no votes, and I’m very happy to run against her. I’m not complaining from that standpoint. And I hate to be defending him, but he did not want to leave. He wanted to see if he could win,’ Trump said. ‘They said, ‘You’re not going to win.’ After the debate, they said, ‘You’re not going to win. You can’t win. You’re out.” 

Trump said Democrats, after successfully pressuring Biden to drop out of the race, ‘just picked a person.’ 

Trump, pointing to Harris’ failed 2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign, said she was ‘the first out.’ 

‘She was the first loser. Okay. So we call her the first loser. She was the first loser when, during the primary system, during the Democrat primary system, she was the first one to quit, and she quit. She had no votes, no support, and she was a bad debater, by the way, a very bad debater,’ Trump said. ‘And that’s not the thing I’m looking forward to. But she was a bad debater. She obviously did a bad job. She never made it to Iowa then, for some reason.’ 

Trump said he thinks Biden ‘regrets’ tapping Harris as vice president. 

‘He picked her and she turned on him, too. She was working with the people that wanted him out,’ he said. ‘But the fact that you can get no votes, lose in the primary system. In other words, you had 14 or 15 people. She was the first one out, and that you can then be picked to run for president.’ 

Trump added: ‘It seems, seems to me actually unconstitutional. Perhaps it’s not.’ 

Vice President Kamala Harris has moved into the betting lead for the first time since being elevated to the top of the ticket.

Harris has a 50.7% chance to be elected president, while former President Trump sits at a 47.9% chance to win the election, according to the Real Clear Politics betting average on Thursday.

Thursday marked the first time Harris has been the betting favorite to win the election, while it’s also the first time the Democratic ticket has been favored over Trump since May 1, when President Biden was still in the race. On that day, Biden held a narrow 42.3% to 42.2% advantage in the Real Clear Politics betting average.

Since that day, Trump continued to put distance between himself and Biden, peaking as a 66.2% favorite on July 15.

But Trump’s lead steadily declined in the weeks after Biden’s decision to drop out of the race and endorse Harris, who quickly went on to lock up the Democratic nomination.

Trump’s odds tumble culminated Thursday, just days after Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to join her on the ticket, a move the Harris campaign believes will help her solidify support in critical Midwestern swing states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Harris was either leading or tied with Trump on Thursday in all the major betting markets tracked by Real Clear Politics, with her biggest lead coming on the popular platform Predictit, a New Zealand-based prediction market that offers ‘shares’ of political outcomes.

Harris shares were selling for 57 cents on the platform as of Thursday morning, while Trump shares were selling for 46 cents, an 11-cent lead for the vice president. Shares on the platform are priced between $0.01 and $0.99, meaning the price of a share essentially represents the percentage chance of a particular outcome.

The shift in the betting favorite comes as Harris has also overtaken Trump in many national polls, becoming the leader on the Real Clear Politics polling average for the first time on Monday. That lead represents the first time the presumed Democratic ticket has had the advantage since September 11 of last year, when Biden a 44.5% to 44.3% advantage.

Neither the Trump nor Harris campaigns immediately responded to Fox News Digital requests for comment.