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Early Voters

READY TO VOTE People line up at a polling site in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 17. ROGER KISBY—BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES

Election Day is November 3. Americans will go to the polls to vote for president of the United States. But millions have already cast their ballot. As of October 19, 29 million Americans had voted early, at a polling site or by mail. That’s six times as many as had voted at that point in the 2016 election. The numbers show that people are eager to vote. They also show that people are concerned about voting in person. That’s because of the pandemic.

This data is from the United States Elections Project, which is run by Michael McDonald. He’s a professor at the University of Florida. “This will be a high-turnout election,” he says.

Some states begin counting early votes as they arrive. Others wait for Election Day. The public will not see results before then. There are lots of mail-in ballots to count. So we might not know the winner right away.

Eddie Perez is an election expert. “Many people are passionate about participating in this election,” he told National Public Radio on October 18.

Stop and Think! What data does this article include? From what source does the author take this data? How does this information help you understand the election?

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