Record 30m Americans vote early ahead of US election
Almost 30m US citizens have already voted ahead of November’s presidential election, more than a fifth of 2016’s total tally of ballots.
With early voting today having opened in the swing state of Florida, over 29.6m in person or postal votes have already been counted.
In 2016, there were 136.6m votes cast in total, but just 5.9m of these were submitted by this point in the previous race.
The surge in early voters is largely down to voters’ desire to avoid the risk of catching coronavirus in voting queues on 3 November.
With only 15 days to go, turnout has been especially strong among Democrats keen to vote out the incumbent, President Donald Trump.
In states that publicly report the party registration of voters, nearly 54 per cent of ballots came from registered Democrats, compared with 25 per cent from Republicans.
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The record figures came as Trump headed to Arizona in a final bid to whip up support before Election Day.
Most opinion polls show that the President continues to trail Democratic challenger Joe Biden, who held no public events today.
The two will meet for a second debate on Thursday following a tempestuous affair earlier this month.
Polls from Florida, which is likely to prove a key step in Trump’s route to the White House, showed that Biden was leading by 49 points to 47.
However, another poll showed that Trump had cut into Biden’s lead in the Democrat’s home state of Pennsylvania.