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US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the BOK Center on June 20 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
More than 95 million Americans had cast their votes in the 2020 presidential election as of Monday, according to a tally by the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida, a harbinger of what is expected to be the largest turnout of the time. modern.
Just one day before Election Day, the record number equals 69% of the total voter turnout for the 2016 election.
A sharp increase in early mail and in-person voting was driven largely by the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 230,000 people in the United States and continues unabated in many US states.
President Donald Trump, his administration criticized for its handling of the Covid-19 outbreak, follows Democratic challenger Joe Biden in national opinion polls. A Reuters / Ipsos poll conducted Oct. 27-29 shows Biden ahead, 51% to 43%.
READ ALSO | Win the vote but still lose? Here’s the US Electoral College.
But the race remains an uproar in states that decide elections through the Electoral College, including Arizona, Florida and North Carolina.
Large numbers of Republican Trump supporters are expected to show up in person to vote on Election Day after Trump sowed mistrust, without evidence, of the vote-by-mail by claiming it was riddled with fraud.
Democrats have largely embraced early voting, not just because of the pandemic, but also because of steps the Trump administration has taken to slow down the processing of American mail.
Experts predict that turnout will easily exceed the 138 million who voted in 2016. Only 47 million votes were cast before Election Day four years ago.
