The Grind:
Election Day is still a week away, but more than 69 million Americans already have cast their ballots, surpassing an estimated early-votes total of about 58 million for the 2016 election. The current early vote for the 2020 election is more than half of the total votes from 2016.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, more states are making it easier to vote early, whether it’s by mail or in-person – and people are taking advantage.
The Details:
The early vote has overwhelmingly favored Democrats as 48.1% of all ballots are from registered Democrats, compared to only 29.1% from registered Republicans as of Monday, according to data from the U.S. Elections Project.
The boom in early voting may confirm the notion that there will be record overall turnout in 2020, but it’s a flawed indicator when it comes to showing which candidate is likely to win the presidential race. Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had an early-vote advantage in 2016, but ended up losing to President Donald Trump.
Democrats say they are more likely to vote by mail than Republicans, according to polls, likely stemming from Trump casting doubt over the legitimacy of mail-in ballots. The FBI has said there is no evidence of coordinated fraud schemes related to voting by mail. Read more…