Washington: More than half-million absentee ballots, the first ballots of the 2020 US presidential election, have left elections offices en route to voters who have requested them across the southern state of North Carolina, a spokesman for the North Carolina Board of Elections said.
Over 6,43,000 North Carolinians have requested ballots so far this year, and hundreds of thousands more are likely to do so in the 60 days remaining before the November 3 elections, according to a The Hill report. State data showed Democratic voters are requesting ballots at more than three times the rate of Republican voters, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.
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The figure far exceeds the previous presidential contest. At this point in 2016, just 38,871 voters had asked for their absentee ballots, said the report.
Up to 44 million voters in nine states and the District of Columbia will have their ballots automatically mailed to their homes. Another 118 million voters live in 34 states that, like North Carolina, allow no-excuse absentee voting.
IANS