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US Election: Over 60 Million Voters Cast Their Ballots Early

Deutsche Welle

  01 Nov 2024, 11:37
Photo: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP

Key Highlights:

  • Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are both campaigning in Nevada, a crucial state for their respective campaigns with just five days until the election.
  • The Republican and Democrat presidential candidates are courting Hispanic voters in the smallest of the seven swing states in terms of electoral votes.
  • Campaigning continued even as more then 60 million votes had reportedly been cast in early or mail-in voting — around 40% of the total votes cast in 2020.

US voters seem to have wholeheartedly embraced early voting, that is according to data compiled by the University of Florida's Election Lab.

Michael McDonald, a political science professor running the project, said data compiled by his six labs in Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia tabulated that more than 62 million US citizens had already cast their votes in 2024 — nearly 40% of all votes in 2020.

Similar percentages have been reported in several swing states, including North Carolina and Georgia, where 45% of registered voters have already cast their ballots in what so far remains a dead heat in the race for the presidency.

Observers suggest strong voter sentiment and changes to early voting rules since 2020 have driven the trend.

"Voters are engaged on both sides of the aisle," said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger Thursday on CNN. "What we just want to do is make sure we have a fair, honest, and accurate process, and that's what we do."

Speaking of early voters, Michael McDonald says, "Every one of these early voters is somebody that they [the parties] scratch off their lists, and every voter they scratch off their lists, they don't have to contact that person anymore." This allows them to further tailor the allocation of time and money down to the wire.

Observers are clear to note that early voting data, including gender turnout — roughly 55% of women have already voted compared to 45% of men, for instance — is only suggestive and very difficult to interpret.

Who does the EU want in the White House?
If Europeans were to elect the next US president on November 5, the result would be crystal clear. In Western Europe, 69% would vote for Harris, in Eastern Europe 46% would.

Trump would only receive the support of 16% of voters in Western Europe and 36% in Eastern Europe, according to a survey by pollsters Novus and Gallup International undertaken in October.

Harris has the highest ratings in Denmark (85%) and Finland (82%) while Trump has the most fans in Europe in Serbia (59%) and Hungary (49%). Both of the latter countries are becoming increasingly autocratic.

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