The final voting day in the US is here after tens of millions have already cast their ballots

WASHINGTON (AP) — Election Day voting began in the eastern and central U.S. Tuesday morning after tens of millions of Americans had already cast their ballots. Those early votes included record numbers in Georgia, North Carolina and other battleground states that could decide the winner.

Early voting in Georgia, which flipped between the Republican and Democratic candidates in the previous two presidential elections, was so strong – over 4 million voters — that a senior official in the secretary of state’s office said the big day could look like a “ghost town” at the polls.

As of Monday, Associated Press tracking of early voting nationwide showed approx 82 million ballots already cast — slightly more than half the total number of votes in the presidential election four years earlier. This is driven in part by Republican voters, who were vote early at a higher rate than in recent past elections, following a campaign by former President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee to counter the Democrats’ long-standing advantage in early voting.

Despite long lines in some places and a few hiccups that are common to all elections, early in-person and mail-in voting went off without major hiccups.

They are included in the parts of western North Carolina hit last month by Hurricane Helene. State and local election officials who benefit from change made by the Republican-controlled legislature, he made a herculean effort to ensure residents could cast their ballots while dealing with power outages, water shortages and washed-out roads.

By the time early voting in North Carolina ended on Saturday, over 4.4 million voters — or nearly 57 percent of all registered voters in the state — cast their ballots. As of Monday, voter turnout in the 25 western counties affected by the hurricane was even stronger, at 59 percent of registered voters, said state Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell.

Brinson Bell called the voters and election workers in the counties affected by the hurricane “an inspiration to us all.”

In addition to the North Carolina hurricanes and Floridathe most troubling disruptions of the election season so far have been arson attacks that damaged ballot papers in two drop boxes near the Oregon-Washington border. Authorities there were looking for the person responsible.

The absence of any significant and widespread issues has not stopped Trump, the Republican or RNC nominee that he is now under his rulefrom making numerous claims of election fraud or interference during the early voting period, it is possible prelude to challenges after election day.

He mischaracterized an ongoing investigation in Pennsylvania in about 2,500 potentially fraudulent voter registration applications, saying one county was “caught with 2,600 fake ballots and forms, all written by the same person.” The inquiry relates to registration applications; there is no indication that ballots are involved.

In Georgia, Republicans tried to bar voters from returning mail-in ballots to their local election office until after polls close on Election Day, which is allowed under state law. A judge they rejected their lawsuit on the weekend.

Trump and Republicans have also warned about the possibility of Democrats recruiting masses of non-citizens to vote, a claim they made without evidence and that is contrary to the data, including from Republican secretaries of state. Research has consistently shown that non-citizens who register to vote are rare. Any non-citizen who faces the potential for felony charges and deportationa significant deterrent.

A case of non-citizen voting was caught during early voting last month and led to felony charges in Michigan after a student from China illegally voted early.

This is the first presidential vote since then Trump lost to Joe Biden four years ago and began various attempts to evade the result and remains in power. This culminated in the January 6, 2021 violent attack on the US Capitol to stop the certification of results after Trump he told his supporters to “fight like hell”.

Even now, a solid majority of the Republicans I think Trump’s lie despite the fact that Biden was not legitimately elected reviews, audits and reports in the battlefield states that all affirmed Biden’s win. A survey last month from Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed that Republicans remain much more skeptical than Democrats that their ballots will be counted accurately this year.

Trying to rebuild voter confidence in a targeted system false claims of widespread fraudRepublican lawmakers in more than a dozen states since 2020 have passed new voting restrictions. Those rules include shortening the window for applying or returning a mail-in ballot, reducing the availability of ballot boxes and adding identification requirements.

In the final weekend before Election Day, Trump continued falsely claim that the election was rigged against him and said a presidential winner should be declared on election nightbefore all the ballots are counted.

Vice President Kamala Harris urged voters not to fall in love Trump’s tactics to question the choices. The Democratic nominee told supporters at a weekend rally in Michigan that the tactic was intended to suggest to people “that if they vote, their vote will not count.” Instead, she urged those who have already voted to encourage their friends to do the same.

Through four years of electoral lies and conspiracy theories about votingfaced local election officials harassment and even death threats. That determined high turnover and led to increased security for election offices and polling places including panic buttons and bulletproof glass.

While there have been no major reports of any malicious cyber activity affecting election offices, foreign actors have been active in using fake social media profiles and sites to generate partisan vitriol and misinformation. In recent weeks, US intelligence officials have attributed to Russia multiple fake videos alleging election fraud in presidential swing states.

On the eve of Election Day, they issued a joint statement with federal law enforcement agencies warning that Russia, in particular, was stepping up its influence operationsincluding in ways that could incite violence and would likely continue these efforts long after the votes have been cast.

Jen Easterly, the nation’s top election security official, urged Americans to rely on state and local election officials for election information.

“This is especially important because we are in an election cycle with an unprecedented amount of disinformation, including disinformation that is being aggressively peddled and amplified by our foreign adversaries on a greater scale than ever before,” she said. “We cannot allow our foreign adversaries to have a vote in our democracy.”

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