32 Million Voters Already Cast Ballot; Hillary Maintains Lead In Early Voting  

Washington, Nov 4: The latest data from early voting in the US election suggests Hillary Clinton is in the lead, but not by as much as her campaign team would have hoped.

With more than 32 million votes already cast – about a quarter of all those expected if turnout is similar to 2012 – the Democrats are maintaining an apparent edge over Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Democrats were building a lead in North Carolina and Nevada states, while Republicans maintained an edge in Florida and Ohio, according to a CNN analysis.

With five days to go till November 8, registered Republicans also led Democrats in early voting in Arizona, while Democrats were ahead in Colorado and Iowa, the analysis revealed on Thursday.

In Arizona, about 1.3 million people have already voted. Registered Republicans were ahead right now -- 71,000 votes or 5.5 per cent.

In Florida, Republicans were leading by over 1,695,000 votes, mean while Democrats were ahead in Iowa with more than 41,000 votes.

Colorado is a state where the election is almost entirely conducted by mail. Here, Democrats were leading by more than 18,500 votes, or about 1.5 per cent.

Registered Democrats were ahead in Nevada by about 29,000 votes right now over registered Republicans. Democrats were also leading in North Carolina by about 243,000 votes.

Registered Republicans expanded their lead this week in Ohio. They were now ahead of Democrats by almost 66,000 votes, or about 5 points.

More than 30 million votes have been cast already across 38 states with early voting. And with five days to go, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are encouraging their supporters to hit the polls early.

So far, about 7.4 million registered Democrats and about 6.4 million Republicans have done just that.

Catalist, a data company that works with progressive candidates and groups, voter list connects returned ballots with demographic and registration information, such as party registration, gender and age, and allows a closer look at who has already cast a vote, CNN reported.

These are not results -- ballots are not counted until Election Day.

But the findings provide clues on who was voting and which party was turning out to vote. And in states that track party affiliation, it was important to remember that not all Democrats are voting for Clinton, and not all Republicans support Trump.

According to state voting laws, 37 states and the District of Columbia allow voters to cast their ballots in person or through mail prior to the election day, while six states allow absentee voting with an excuse and seven do not allow any form of early voting.

--IANS