Early US election voting begins in some states

US voters have begun casting their first in-person ballots in a presidential election six weeks away that both Republican and Democratic leaders call the most important in generations.

The stakes are high: Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and other party leaders have described Republican nominee Donald Trump as a threat to democracy while Trump has said he must win to save the country from Democratic rule.

In-person voting marks a six-week stretch to the November 5 election day.

It means the end is now in sight to the bitterly divided campaign which in just the past two months has seen Harris take over from President Joe Biden as the Democrats' nominee and Trump narrowly escaping one assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and a second apparent one on Sunday at his Florida golf club.

Why wait until November 5th to cast your ballot in the November General Election? Early voting has begun. Visit https://t.co/K39TGMHSOI to learn more. #VAElection2024 pic.twitter.com/toqGnLpQwH— VA Dept of Elections (@vaELECT) September 20, 2024

Most states offer some form of in-person early voting.

The first in-person voting was in Virginia, Minnesota and South Dakota with several more states to follow by the middle of October.

While Trump has frequently expressed scepticism about early voting in the past, the Republican National Committee has embraced the concept this year as an important way to pile up votes in advance, since weather and other factors can affect the turnout on November 5.

Democrats have taken advantage of early voting options in recent elections, banking millions of votes in the process.

In 2018, Democrats accounted for 41 per cent of early votes in the 24 states that provide partisan data, compared to 35.1 per cent for Republicans, according to the US Elections Project at the University of Florida.

In 2022, that gap widened, with Democrats accounting for 42.5 per cent of early ballots and Republicans 33.8 per cent.