More than 75M Americans vote early as Harris, Trump make final push in key swing states
Early voting surges ahead of Election Day, with Harris, Trump rallying in battleground states as polls show tight race for White House
WASHINGTON
More than 75 million Americans voted early in the US presidential election, according to data released late Saturday.
The figures from the University of Florida's Election Lab tracker show 75,093,872 people have voted either by mail or in-person at polling stations.
More voters chose to vote in-person than by mail this presidential election cycle.
The number of registered voters in the US is about 168 million people, unlike in 2020, when the US was in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, held rallies in southern swing states with less than two days before Election Day.
Harris held a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, and attended an event in Charlotte, North Carolina. Trump campaigned in Gastonia, North Carolina, then traveled to Salem, Virginia, before returning to Greensboro, North Carolina.
During her rally in the state of Georgia, Harris said Trump is focused on his "enemies list" and added that she will be focused on her "to do list".
"This is not someone who is thinking about how to make your life better. This is someone, who is increasingly unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and the man is out for unchecked power," said the Democratic candidate.
At his rallies, Trump took aim at his contender, saying he would usher in an American golden age.
"Kamala broke it, I will fix it, and America will be rich again," he said in Gastonia.
Meanwhile, Harris is expected to join the “Saturday Night Live” television program in New York City, CNN reported, citing a source familiar.
Polling indicates that Harris and Trump are locked in a dead heat, particularly in the seven critical battleground states.
Battleground states are pivotal because the US does not directly elect its presidents. Instead, the process plays out via the Electoral College where 538 representatives cast their ballots in line with their states’ outcomes.
A candidate needs to secure 270 Electoral College votes to claim victory. Electors are allocated to states based on their population, and most states give all of their electors to whichever candidate wins the state in the general vote.
