US President Donald Trump, seeking re-election, and Democratic candidate Joe Biden have made early wins in several states as polls close across the United States. All eyes are now on the key battleground states, including Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Arizona, results of which are crucial for both contenders, Indian Express reported.
So far, Trump has won Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wyoming, Indiana and South Carolina. Biden, meanwhile, has taken Democratic-leaning states like Colorado, Columbia, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.
The US is heading for a historic election with the voter turnout indicating the largest participation in a century. According to the United States Election Project, in at least six states — Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Washington State — the turnout has been more than what we saw in the 2016 polls.
The latest tally of early voting in the US shows that almost 102 million Americans cast their votes before Election Day, an eyepopping total that represents 73 of the total turnout of the 2016 presidential election. Early voting — whether in person or by mail-in or absentee ballot — has swelled during the COVID-19 pandemic as voters have sought the safety and convenience it offers. The greatest gains have been witnessed in Kentucky where almost 13 times as many voters cast their ballots early as in 2016.
Earlier in the day, Americans were seen voting in large numbers in one of the most divisive bitter elections in decades in which incumbent Republican Donald Trump is challenged by Democrat Joe Biden. Some 239 million people are eligible to vote this year. The mail-in ballots could take days or weeks to be counted in some states, meaning a winner might not be declared in the hours after polls close on Tuesday local time.
Polls will close across the US at different times Tuesday, anywhere before 9 pm local time.
ZZ/PR