More than 71M Americans cast early ballots

Early voting has surpassed 71 million Wednesday, less than one week before Election Day in the US.

In all, 71,063,593 people have voted, according to a running tally compiled by the US Elections Project Monday, which is run by a professor at the University of Florida.

The new figure, both by mail and in-person, already passed half of the votes cast during the 2016 presidential election.

Democrats continue to comprise the bulk of early voters with 48%. While having gained ground, Republicans account for just over 29%, and non-affiliated voters comprise 22.3%.

Voters have increasingly turned to mail-in balloting and early voting at polling places this year amid health concerns sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.

US President Donald Trump has sought to frame mail-in-voting as being unduly prone to fraud but has not backed up his claims with evidence.

Democrats have pushed for expanding vote-by-mail to create a safe way to hold elections amid the pandemic that has infected 8.7 million and killed more than 226,000 in the US.