Big turnout on day one of early voting

Big turnout on day one of early voting

[NFA] Voters in Minnesota, Virginia, South Dakota and Wyoming began casting in-person ballots on Friday.

In Virginia, elections officials in Fairfax and Arlington counties reported heavy turnout, with lines out the door.

This report produced by Jillian Kitchener.

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EXISTING GRAPHICS MAY BE OVERWRITTEN BY CLIENT’S OWN GRAPHICS BUT NO FURTHER EDITS ARE PERMITTED, INCLUDING FOR LENGTH / NO USE RICHMOND, VA MEDIA MARKETS**~ "We are excited to exercise our rights as a citizen and we are revved up to vote for our candidate.” Motivated voters cast their ballots Friday in Minnesota, as the first day of early voting got underway in the state - along with South Dakota, Wyoming and Virginia.

“It’s now or never.” “It’s an incredibly important vote.” Voters in Richmond, Virginia waited in line for a polling station to open… While in Fairfax County - closer to Washington, DC - the line to vote stretched on for hours by midday, according to the Washington Post.

The candidates on Friday headed to Minnesota… a state which Donald Trump lost in 2016 and where the president was scheduled to hold a campaign rally.

Democrat Joe Biden - who has a comfortable lead in the state, according to recent opinion polls - spoke in Hermantown about Trump's handling of the coronavirus: "In the midst of this unprecedented national crises, Trump has given up on even pretending to do his job.

Almost 200,000 lives lost in the last six months." Some voters in Minnesota said they chose to mask-up and vote early to avoid potential crowds on Election Day - citing concerns about the coronavirus.

The pandemic is expected to cause a major surge in voting by mail as well.

But with Trump repeatedly suggesting, without evidence, that mail-in ballots lead to fraud… and with some questioning whether their ballot would be handled properly by the post office… some early voters in Minneapolis said they wanted to show up to make sure their vote was counted.

“I did mail a couple of years ago and that was very convenient, but now there is obviously a fuss about that working or not working so I thought why not get up, stand in line and get it done in person.”