Early voting for the November 5 presidential election in the United States began this Friday (20) in three states, Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia, beginning the final stretch of the dispute for the White House between the vice president and candidate for the Democratic Party, Kamala Harris, and the former president and candidate for the Republican Party, Donald Trump.
Voters eager to be the first to cast their ballots lined up early in the morning at polling stations in these three states. Throughout October, voters in key swing states that could decide the election because they have no clear-cut lead among the candidates — such as Michigan, Nevada and Arizona — will also have the opportunity to cast their ballots early.
In Virginia, early voting centers will remain open through November 2.
However, in Minnesota and South Dakota, the system is different. These states are part of a group of 23 that allow voters to hand-deliver their ballots to a state elections official instead of mailing them in, rather than dropping them off at a ballot box.
These early voting options have become increasingly popular in the US because elections are always held on the first Tuesday in November, a weekday when many voters are unable to cast ballots.
According to official data from each of the states that began early voting today, in the 2020 election, 40% of Virginia residents voted in person early. In Minnesota, the percentage reached 57%, and in South Dakota, 20%.
Across the country, during the 2020 election, marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 69% of votes were sent by mail or deposited in advance at the ballot box, according to a data center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
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