US presidential election 2020: Highest voter turnout in a century likely with over 160 million votes to be cast

New York: The US seems to be on monitor to see over 160 million votes solid within the US presidential election 2020, a turnout charge of about 67 per cent, which is increased than the nation has witnessed in additional than a century, as President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden campaigned by means of the ultimate day to get extra voters to the polling cubicles.

Voting throughout the nation was largely clean as voters lined up early within the morning throughout polling stations within the nation to solid their ballots in one of the crucial consequential and polarised US election 2020 in historical past that happened within the shadow of a devastating coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic in addition to a robust drive amongst Americans to have their voices heard on the poll field resulted in a file 101 million early votes solid in particular person and by mail earlier than the polls even opened on Election Day.

The New York Times reported that the 2020 presidential marketing campaign was shaping as much as be one for the file books, on tempo to draw the very best turnout in additional than a century.

The NYT quoted University of Florida professor Michael McDonald, who compiles knowledge from throughout the nation, as saying that America seemed to be on monitor to see roughly 160 million complete votes solid. 

“That would mean a turnout rate of about 67 per cent of the eligible voting population — higher than the United States has seen in more than a century,” the NYT mentioned, including that the final time the turnout was greater than 65 per cent was 1908, based on the United States Elections Project.

“The huge turnout appeared to be spurred by the momentous issues that have upended the lives of nearly every American, including the surging coronavirus outbreak and the struggling economy, the political passions of the Trump era, and the steps that many states took this year to make voting easier and safer during the pandemic,” the NYT report mentioned.

The NYT reported that at the least six states — Texas, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii and Montana — recorded extra votes in early voting than they did throughout the entire 2016 election. Several battleground states, together with Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, had been nearing their 2016 totals.

Throughout the day, Trump and Biden had been on the street to proceed to fulfill with celebration staff and exhorting voters to show up on the polling stations to solid their ballots.

Trump, visiting his marketing campaign headquarters in Virginia, was requested by reporters if he had ready victory or concession speeches forward of the election outcomes.  The President mentioned he was “not thinking about (a) concession speech or acceptance speech yet. Winning is easy. Losing is never easy. Not for me, it is not”.

During the day, Trump tweeted, “Get out & VOTE! Under my Administration, our ECONOMY is growing at the fastest rate EVER at 33.1%. Next year will be the GREATEST ECONOMIC YEAR in American History!”

Biden too strongly urged voters to make their votes rely, saying if they’d not voted early, they need to vote on Tuesday and keep in line so long as it takes. “Our democracy is at stake,” he mentioned.

“Folks, time is running out to make your voice heard in this election…Every moment of the last four years comes down to today.”

In one other tweet, he mentioned: “This is our moment to prove that: Love is more powerful than hate. Hope is more powerful than fear. Light is more powerful than dark. Today is your absolute last chance to vote in this election.”

Former US president Barack Obama mentioned in a tweet, “This Election Day, everything is on the line. Our jobs. Our health care. Whether or not we get this pandemic under control. But here’s the good news: today, you can choose change. You can elect” Biden and Kamala Harris. “Let’s win this thing.”

Harris tweeted, “This is our time. Let’s use our vote, our power, to choose the America we can be — and the future our children and grandchildren deserve,” and mentioned in one other tweet: “Now is the time to stand up. Now is the time to speak out. Now is the time to vote. Your voice is your power — don’t let anyone take it away.”

Harris additionally mentioned what Trump fears probably the most just isn’t Biden or her however “the power of the people”. She mentioned Biden “knows that no matter where we come from or where we live, no matter our race or gender, background or faith, no matter how we identify or who we love, no matter the language your grandmother speaks — what we have in common is so much stronger than what divides us”.

The NYT mentioned in a report that Republican voters had been extra prone to vote on Election Day, whereas Democrats had been extra prone to vote early, particularly by mail. Democrats have additionally traditionally voted in increased numbers within the night, after work. “Precincts in predominantly white, Hispanic and Black neighbourhoods showed only a trickle of voters, suggesting most people had voted early, either by mail or in person,” it mentioned.

According to voter knowledge analysed by the Collective PAC, which is devoted to electing Black lawmakers, Black voters had been on tempo to drastically surpass turnout in the course of the presidential election in 2016. 

Quentin James, the founding father of the PAC, mentioned greater than 616,000 Black individuals had already solid ballots in Texas — greater than the 582,000 who had voted in 2016 — and that the turnout of Black voters in Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona was on tempo to simply overtake the 2016 ranges, the NYT report mentioned. 

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