More than 40 million people cast early ballots in US midterm elections

Washington:

More than 40 million Americans have voted early ahead of Tuesday’s midterm election, the US Election Project said on Monday, surpassing the number two years ago.

The US will vote Tuesday to elect 435 members of the House of Representatives, a third of the Senate and a host of state and local positions.

Most of the 50 US states allow voters to vote early, either in person or by mail, a practice that became widespread during the 2020 presidential election, held at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. .

As of Monday, more than 18.5 early votes have been cast in person and 22.3 million by mail, for a total of 40.8 million, according to the US Elections Project.

It said 39.1 million people had voted by the same point in the mid-2018 period.

Republican lawmakers have raised technical objections to early voting in several states where elections could be closer.

In Pennsylvania, for example, the state Supreme Court has ruled that mail-in votes cannot be counted if they do not have a written date on the envelope – a decision that could potentially affect thousands of ballots. Is.

In Wisconsin, absentee votes can be thrown out if the witness’s address—which is required by the state to seal a ballot envelope—is incomplete.

Former Republican President Donald Trump alleged last week that voters in the key state of Pennsylvania were sent “unverified” ballots, a claim rejected by state election officials.

Trump also made false claims of electoral fraud after losing to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, which has been echoed by many members of his Republican Party.

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