“I feel the importance of the elections in the last 4 years” …

Voters flocked to the Fairfax County Government Center in Virginia early in the morning and lined up to vote early for the US presidential election that began on the 18th (local time). [AFP=연합뉴스]

Fairfax County Government Center, Virginia, on the 18th (local time), when voting began prior to the United States presidential elections. The 5 p.m. voting deadline was about an hour, but there were still more than 200 million waiting lines.

There was a side where the line was longer, separated by about 2 m each due to ‘establishing a social distance’, but in the morning people were crowded enough to surround the courtyard of the government center, which is almost of the size of two soccer fields.

Emitting helicopters floated in the sky to cover such a real scene. In the early fall weather, when the scorching heat was gone, people in line were also taking photos and having fun.

In the United States, pre-voting began in four states, including Virginia, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. As Corona 19’s momentum rarely weakened, there was concern about how many voters would show up at the polling place on Election Day Nov. 3.

Additionally, as President Donald Trump continued to raise questions about the reliability of voting by mail, each field was forced to keep an eye on pre-voting rates.

Many voters who came out to vote on this day said, “I came to avoid Election Day for Corona 19,” but that was not all.

“I don’t know what will happen from now until Election Day, so I went out to vote on the first day,” said Sulli Berry, a black woman who works as a nursing assistant. In particular, she said, “The government did not treat the lower social and economic class fairly,” she said. “I made the decision to vote while watching at home rubber bullets firing at citizens during this anti-racism protest in Washington.”

A voter who gathered at a polling place in Fairfax County, Virginia, USA on the 18th (local time) predicted that the pre-vote rate would be quite high due to the current political situation. [김필규 특파원]

Shepard Smith, a white male who came to vote on this day to volunteer in the counting office on this election day, predicted that the pre-vote rate would be quite high.

“There may be an impact on Corona 19,” he explained, “but many people have felt the outcome of the elections by looking at the situation in the United States over the past four years.” She said, “I decided to do a pre-vote even if I wait a bit, instead of voting by mail with the feeling of having a certain ceremony.”

First, the local media also assessed that the pre-voting fever was considerable. At the time of the 2016 presidential election, in Pennington County, South Dakota, there were about 100 voters who voted on the first day of pre-voting. But this time, when the polling place opened at 8 a.m., more than 150 people were already waiting in line, CNN reported.

Elections Commissioner Kate Hanley of Fairfax County, Virginia, also said: “This is the first time I have seen such a crowd on the first day of the vote.”

When he was returning home after the interview, an ovation broke out at the entrance of the building where the voting booth was located. After two hours of waiting, the young people who were ready to enter shouted with joy.

The voting fever that neither Corona 19 nor conspiracy theories prevented is showing signs of becoming a major variable in this American presidential election.

Washington = Correspondent Pilkyu Kim [email protected]