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NEW YORK: New Yorkers packed the polls and lined up for hours to cast their vote on the state’s first day of early voting on Saturday (October 24), rushing to register their elections 10 days before the presidential election on October 3 of November.
Long lines formed before the polls opened in New York City and Long Island, videos were shown on social media, as New Yorkers joined an onslaught of more than 56 million Americans nationwide who have cast your first ballots at a record pace.
Saturday was the first time that voters in New York, a reliably Democratic state where Democrat Joe Biden has a wide poll advantage over Republican President Donald Trump, were able to vote early in a presidential election.
The majority of New York voters have not supported a Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan’s re-election in 1984. Early voting by person will continue in the state until November 1.
READ: Trump votes in Florida one day after the worst COVID-19 spike in the US.
Voters line up to cast their votes outside Madison Square Garden, which is used as a polling station in Manhattan, New York, on October 24, 2020 (Photo: Reuters / Jeenah Moon).
Vanessa Reilly, 38, a computer programmer, voted early for Biden at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. He said he wanted to make sure his vote was counted.
“I just want to avoid all the chaos on Election Day,” Reilly said, adding that a lot of people were showing up to voice their opposition to Trump.
“Given this year and given the current president, we need to send a clear message that his policies do not work, that they are offensive, that they do not represent American values,” he said.
About 56.5 million Americans have already cast their early votes across the country, either in person or by mail, a rate that could lead to the highest voter turnout rate in more than a century, according to data from the Electoral Project. from the United States.
READ: As COVID-19 hits changing states, Biden and Trump show stark contrast
Voters cast their votes at the Barclays Center, which is used as a polling station in Brooklyn, New York, on October 24, 2020 (Photo: Reuters / Jeenah Moon).
The rush to vote is a sign of intense interest in the Trump-Biden race, as well as concern about avoiding crowded polling places on Election Day and reducing the risk of exposure to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 224,000 Americans.
The high level of early voting has led Michael McDonald, the University of Florida professor who administers the U.S. Elections Project, to predict a record turnout of around 150 million, representing 65% of eligible voters. , the highest participation rate since 1908.
