20 days before the US elections, one of the crucial states begins voting; Understands

20 days before the presidential elections in the United States. GeorgiaOne of the seven states expected to play a decisive role in this year’s elections, voting began on Tuesday the 15th of this month. In North American elections, some states vote in advance, by mail or in person, as is the case in Georgia.

According to state officials, voters in Georgia turned out in record numbers as the state opened early voting. The official date for the US presidential elections between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump is November 5.

At least 252,000 voters had cast their ballots at early voting sites by 4 p.m. local time on Tuesday, nearly double the 136,000 who participated on the first day of early voting, Georgia Elections Department official Gabriel Sterling said. In the 2020 elections, he wrote on social media: “Amazing turnout.”

Vote before the official date

Early voting, whether in person or by mail, has become increasingly popular among American voters. About 1 in 7 voters voted before Election Day in 2020, according to the University of Florida Elections Lab.

However, many Republicans opposed the radical expansion of mail-in voting that year, saying it was less secure than in-person voting, and Trump cited false claims of mail-in ballot fraud while trying unsuccessfully to overturn his defeat to Democrat Joe. Biden.

Some Republicans continue to insist that voters should only be able to vote in person on Election Day, although party officials are encouraging their supporters to vote early.

In Georgia this year, the electoral board, made up mostly of Trump supporters, tried to change a series of election rules. In August, the group decided that any city election authority could open voting investigations and refuse to certify ballot results, even without evidence. In addition, it also required manual counting of votes. But the court canceled these decisions on Tuesday the fifteenth of this month.

Across the country, 5.5 million Americans have already cast ballots this year, according to Elections Lab. On the other hand, 27 million people had already voted so far in the 2020 election, as voters tried to avoid crowded polling places during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like some other states, Georgia has since strengthened its mail-in voting laws, requiring voters who want to vote by mail to provide proof of identity and limiting the number of locations where they can drop off their ballots. *(Information from Reuters).