Election Project predicted turnout this year could exceed 150 million in total (Representation)
Washington:
Early voting in the 2020 U.S. election topped all pre-election ballots four years earlier, an independent poll observer said on Sunday, nine days before the Nov. 3 election.
Millions of Americans wary of crowded voting booths during the coronavirus pandemic and spurred on by an electoral fight that President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden have called existential are breaking voting records, whether by mail or in no one.
The tally from the Independent U.S. Election Project, run by the University of Florida, said more than 59 million people voted so far on Sunday.
That’s more than the 57 million who voted early or by mail in 2016, according to the US Election Assistance Commission website.
So far, Democrats – who have been pushing early voting – have shown the way, but it remains to be seen if that means Biden can breathe easy.
Trump has been claiming for months, without proof, that postal ballots lead to fraud, and many Republicans are expected to vote on election day.
However, as cases of the coronavirus escalate across the country, Michael McDonald – a political science professor at the University of Florida who administers the election plan – warned that the strategy “looks all the more risky.”
“What if at least some of its voters decide not to vote? What if a polling station becomes unavailable or if an electoral station closes?” he tweeted.
The electoral project predicted that the turnout this year could exceed 150 million in total. Some 137 million votes were cast in the 2016 election.
Some key states for the 2020 result were also firmly on record-breaking path, such as Texas, where the election bill said on Sunday that 80% of the early 2016 vote had already taken place.
“Folks, Texas still has an early in-person vote until Friday, plus Election Day. No doubt the turnout in Texas will be higher than 2016. The question is how much?” McDonald tweeted.
Elections in Texas, traditionally a conservative stronghold that has supported Republican candidates since 1980, have come under close scrutiny, with some polls showing Biden is in a position to outstrip Trump.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
