More than 50 million Americans have voted early in the White House race that pits President Donald Trump against Democrat Joe Biden, a group monitoring the vote said on Friday.
Voters are breaking vote-casting records before Election Day on November 3 to avoid crowded voting centers and long lines for fear of contracting the coronavirus.
The U.S. Elections Project’s tally, administered by the University of Florida, said more than 35 million people have voted by mail and more than 15 million in person by leaving their ballots in designated mailboxes.
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The tally already exceeds 47 million votes cast at the beginning of the 2016 election, with more than a week left.
Early voting rules vary by state. One of the most populated, New York, starts only on Saturday, so it will increase the bill even more.
Democrats are urging people to vote early as a precautionary measure, and in some cases, long lines have formed at places where voters can drop off their ballots.
Without providing proof, Trump, who is behind Biden in national polls and in key states on the battlefield, has insisted that voting by mail is prone to fraud.
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