The US is going to vote on November 6 (India time). Earlier, early voting is underway in many parts of America. According to the New York Times, more than 1.5 million Americans have cast their votes as of Tuesday. This poll has been done by mail (post) in more than 47 states.
This process of voting before an election is called advance polling or pre-poll voting. Advance polling has already been done in American elections before this. Although Democrats dominated pre-poll voting in previous elections, Republicans have started to take the lead in some major states this time around.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, who are also running for president, are also trying to woo Democrat and Republican supporters based on early voting trends to send them to the polls.
Elon Musk, who is openly supporting Trump in the US elections, has said that he will give 1 million dollars i.e. about 8.40 crore rupees to any one elected voter every day till the date of presidential election. Interestingly, this scheme is applicable only for 7 swing states.
Donald Trump arrives at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on October 5. It was here that he was attacked. World's richest man Elon Musk also participated in this rally. He is openly supporting Trump in this election.
Due to Corona, more people voted before the elections in 2020 Advance voting is done in different ways in America. Most states have mail-in voting facility. In this people vote by post. In many states, voters can vote in person even before the election by going to a polling station. The polling date may vary in different states. As in Virginia, the election will begin on September 20. Elections have not yet started in Wisconsin.
In 2020, due to the fear of Corona, 6.5 crore people voted by post and 3.58 crore people voted early to avoid the crowd. This figure is around 64.4%. Similarly, in the 2022 midterm elections, about 50% of people voted before the election.
This time too as the election days are approaching, the advance voting is increasing. According to a Newsweek report, early voting began on October 15 in the states of Georgia and North Carolina. More than 7.5 lakh people voted together from both places in just one day.
This time 70% people will be able to vote before the election Before 1988, there were only 6 states where early voting was prevalent. Early voting has increased since 1992 before elections. 7% voted in the 1992 elections. According to NBC, 14.5 million people could vote before the election this year. It is about 70%.
About 60% of Democrat and 32% of Republican voters voted by mail in 2020, according to the MIT Election Data and Science Lab. Naturally, Biden benefited from this in the last election as well, which is why former President Donald Trump has often made statements against advance polling. He says that there has been fraud in voting by mail. However, the Republican Party is encouraging voters to vote early in this election.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
