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MINNEAPOLIS: Voters lined up in Minnesota to cast their ballot on Friday (September 18) ahead of the state campaign trips of President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, when early voting began there and in three other states. before November 3. choice.
Some 44 people cast their votes in the first 30 minutes that the only voting center in the city of Minneapolis was open, in a state that Trump narrowly lost in 2016, but this time he has pointed to a possible recovery.
Voters in Virginia, South Dakota and Wyoming also began casting their ballots in person on Friday. In Virginia, elections officials in Fairfax and Arlington counties in suburban Washington reported high turnout, with lines at the door.
Some Minnesota voters said they were eager to speed up the process or avoid potential crowds on Election Day.
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted American electoral traditions. It has dramatically reduced campaign trips for both candidates and is expected to lead to an increase in early voting and mail-in voting as Americans seek to reduce their exposure to crowds that can spread the disease.
“I just wanted to come do it,” said Jason Miller, 33, a painter who was in line before the site opened to vote for Biden. He said he was eager to cast a vote against Trump.
“It inspired me a bit to come here the first day,” he said. “In fact, probably 3-1 / 2 years ago I thought I’d be here the first day I could.
Steve O’Rourke, 65, who came with a son who has to leave the country on a work trip, said he chose to vote early in person rather than by mail, in part because he was concerned whether a vote would be counted for mail.
“I like to make sure my vote is counted on Election Day,” said O’Rourke, who also supported Biden. “I just wanted to make sure I got my vote.”
All voters lined up in Minneapolis wore masks to help protect against the spread of the coronavirus.
Margie Rukavina, 72, said she was “rushing” to vote for Biden, but was also concerned about voting on Election Day due to health concerns.
“We want to get there early to avoid a super spread event, as our president is so happy to do,” he said. Trump has been criticized for holding packed campaign rallies, often with people without masks.
The Republican president follows Biden in national opinion polls, but he is trying to regain ground in Minnesota, which lost about 1.5 percentage points to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, while winning in neighboring Wisconsin.
Recent opinion polls have given Biden a comfortable lead in Minnesota. Poll tracking website RealClearPolitics showed that Biden increased by an average of 10.2 points through Friday.
Biden’s lead in the polls underscores the extent to which the current electoral map favors the former vice president. He leads in the three former industrial “Rust Belt” states that Trump jumped out of the Democratic column on his way to victory in 2016: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Trump is scheduled to hold a campaign rally at an airport in Bemidji, Minnesota, for the night. In the afternoon, Biden will tour a union training center in Duluth before delivering a speech.
The state was the flash point for a national reckoning over race relations, when George Floyd, a black man, died after a white Minneapolis cop knelt on his neck for minutes even after he appeared to lose consciousness. .
The killing sparked widespread civil unrest that has lasted for months and further shook a nation already besieged by the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed nearly 196,000 Americans and put millions out of work.
Trump has responded to the demonstrations by promising to uphold “law and order” while portraying many of the protesters as far-left radicals who would be further strengthened by a Biden victory.
Biden has denounced the violence in some protests and has expressed support for protesters’ objections to racism and police brutality. He has blamed Trump’s divisive rhetoric for inflaming the situation.
