US Election 2020: About 4 million people already voted; record turnout likely
US election
Nearly four million people have voted in the US so far from the postal ballot system, a number that indicates that record voting can take place in the country.
Amid the pandemic that has worst hit the US, Americans are heavily relying on mail-in voting for the presidential election to avoid the risk of contracting the virus by going to the polling station.
The US Elections Project, which makes data of early voting said that over 3.8 million people have cast their ballot so far, which greatly surpasses the nearly 75,000-mark that was touched during this time in 2016.
Michael McDonald of the University of Florida, who administers this project, believes that this massive rise in mail-in voting is because it's a safe process in view of coronavirus outbreak and since several people have decided Donald Trump's fate.
"We've never seen this many people voting so far ahead of an election," he said, as quoted by news agency Reuters.
"People cast their ballots when they make up their minds, and we know that many people made up their minds long ago and already have a judgment about Trump."
McDonald predicted that this spike in early voting could lead to an overall turnout of nearly 150 million, a record number since 1908.
He said these figures have arrived from the 31 US states out of the 50 that have started mail-in voting and added that the early voting will rise further after more states will start allowing it in the upcoming weeks.