Early US election voting breaks records. Will it hurt Donald Trump?
- Strong early voting turnout comes as Joe Biden maintains a national polling lead over President Donald Trump
- Americans could be voting earlier because they’re wary about the performance of the US Postal Service
More than 4.2 million people have already voted early in the presidential election, vastly exceeding the pace of 2016 as Democrats amass a commanding lead in returned mail ballots.
In the 2016 election, around 75,000 people had voted early at this point, across significantly fewer states that had started early voting and reporting their numbers, according to the United States Elections Project.
The current national aggregation of in-person and mail-in vote totals includes more than 20 states that have started early voting ahead of the November 3 election.
Two factors help explain the massive spike. Several states have changed laws since four years ago to either offer early voting or expand early voting periods. In addition, as expected for months, more people are taking advantage of early voting, particularly voting by mail, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Yes, some of it’s supply, but most of it’s demand,” said Michael McDonald, associate professor of political science at the University of Florida, who manages the United States Elections Project, which is tracking early voting totals.
The strong early voting turnout comes as Democratic nominee Joe Biden maintains a strong national polling lead over President Donald Trump.