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Added on the 10/02/2016 04:03:20 - Copyright : Reuters EN
The United States' 2020 general election is on track to shatter all previous records for voter turnout. According to Business Insider, nearly 140 million votes have already been counted, exceeding 2016's record-breaking 137.1 million votes. The 2020 total is only expected to soar in the coming hours and days. That's because votes, whether in-person or absentee, continue to be counted across the country. Wednesday, battleground states like North Carolina and Pennsylvania remained undecided. Large states such as California and Texas hadn't yet reported all results. However, by midday on Wednesday, Democrat Joe Biden led President Donald Trump by almost 3 million votes.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders sets his sights on Pennsylvania's primary next week, saying if there is a large voter turnout "we will win." Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
A new Reuters analysis reveals President Donald Trump actually performed better this year than he did in 2016, in counties where many have died from COVID-19. Results from 139 counties in 19 different states found that Trump made a 4% jump in votes in areas highly impacted by the coronavirus. According to HuffPost, Trump also won the majority of votes in states with the highest COVID-19 death rates, including Florida and Texas. More than 230,000 Americans and over 1 million people worldwide have died of the novel coronavirus. Nevertheless, many American voters supported the president. Constituents in these areas may have been susceptible to COVID-19 because they listened to the Trump administration's consistent downplaying of the virus. Many Trump supporters do not wear masks or believe COVID-19 is as severe as it really is, in part, due to the administration’s consistent downplaying of the virus.
Presidential campaigns today seem to be massive, well-oiled machines. But that doesn't mean American election history is without its oddities. For example, the Farmers Almanac says President Zachary Taylor never, ever voted. He kept his political beliefs a secret all the way up until his 1848 election. According to The Famer's Almanac, George Washington’s entire campaign budget for his 1758 election to the House of Burgesses was spent on liquor. Borrowing an English tradition, Washington spent 50 British pounds on 160 gallons of alcohol that was given to 390 voters. Originally, only white male American property owners could vote in US elections. But the 1920 Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote, too. According to the Farmer's Almanac, since 1964, more women voters have gone to the polls than male voters during presidential election years.
Between COVID-19 and various efforts across the country to make it downright difficult to vote, the challenges of voting are becoming increasingly obvious. Following the lead of major retails, US tech giants like Twitter and Salesforce are giving their employees Election Day off in order to vote. According to Business Insider, rideshare company Uber is giving employees the day off as part of their 'Get Out the Vote' effort. Uber is providing links to voter registration sites through its app, and will assist in getting voters to the polls on election day. Other companies, like Apple and Facebook, are encouraging employees to volunteer to be poll workers.
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