US presidential election: towards historic participation?

Photo montage of President Donald Trump, left, and former Vice President Joe Biden during the first presidential debate, Tuesday, September 29, 2020, at Case Western University and the Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio.

AP / Patrick Semansky

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

This is unheard of in the United States.

More than 17 million people have already voted for the presidential election on November 3.

Figures much larger than 4 years ago at the same period, according to the US Elections Project of the University of Florida, which compiles the data provided by the electoral authorities of the various states.

They could predict a record turnout this year.

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For the first time in U.S. history, a majority of voters could have voted by D-Day. This dramatic rise in mail voting and early voting, in person at polling stations, of course comes into play in a particular health context.

Many Americans want to avoid the long lines on November 3.

The

also show that this system is used primarily by the elderly.

He is also favored by the Democrats.

They are about twice as numerous as Republicans in several key states who allow publication of voters' political affiliation.

Is this a simple precautionary vote or a surge in the turnout?

Several analysts favor the second option.

Already in the mid-term elections in 2018, voters had never voted so much in a century.

Pollsters also note Americans' particular interest in the election this year.

Of the 500,000 people who have already voted by mail in North Carolina this year, for example, a quarter had not voted in the last presidential election.

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