US polls 2020: More than 1 million ballots returned even before Trump-Biden face-off

More than 1.3 million American voters have already cast their ballots for the upcoming presidential election. This came even before President Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the two candidates locked horns for the much-awaited first presidential debate on September 29. According to the US Elections Project, this is a record number for early voting activity as around the same time in 2016 only 9,525 people had voted. The data is from the states that provide the early voting option and publicly report the numbers. 

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As of September 27, 1,83,103 registered Democrats voters had returned their ballots out of the 2,03,46,122 that requested for it. Meanwhile, 1,21,33,306 registered Republican voters had requested ballots and 63,618 returned them until Sunday. Out of the 1,24,72,453 non-affiliated voters that requested for ballots, 90,137 had returned them. The number of returned ballots is likely higher because some states had not reported data by the time the report was published, while some states were lagging in their reporting. 

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Likely factors 

Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida who runs the Elections Project, said that three factors may be the reason behind the dramatic increase in early voting. Voter interest, the COVID-19 pandemic, and changing state laws like Virginia adopting full-fledged in-person early voting for the first time this presidential election. At the time of the report by McDonald, already, 2,00,277 people in Virginia had cast in-person votes, and another 83,822 had voted by mail. 

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"There is evidence in 2020 early voting data that supports those who are most intensely paying attention to politics, and who have already made up their minds, are those casting early votes. In Georgia, Michigan, and North Carolina, more older voters are casting ballots, and have a higher ballot return rate than younger voters," the report stated.

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(Image Credit: AP)