By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY and ALI SWENSON, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Election Day 2024 arrived Tuesday — with tens of millions of Americans already voting. These include record numbers in Georgia, North Carolina and other battleground states that could decide the winner.

Early turnout in Georgia, which has swung between Republican and Democratic candidates in the previous two presidential elections, has been so strong: more than 4 million voters — that a senior official in the secretary of state’s office said the big day could resemble a “ghost town” during the election.

As of Monday, Associated Press tracking of early voting nationwide showed about 82 million votes already cast or a little more than half of the total number of votes obtained in the presidential election four years earlier. This is partly due to Republican voters, who were vote early at a higher rate than in recent past elections, after a campaign by former President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee to counter Democrats’ long-standing advantage in early voting.

Despite long lines at some locations and some hiccups common to all elections, in-person and mail-in early voting went without major problems.

That includes areas of western North Carolina hit last month by Hurricane Helene. National and local electoral agents, benefiting from changes made by the Republican-controlled legislature, achieved a herculean effort to ensure residents could vote as they faced power outages, lack of water and washed out roads.

As early voting ends in North Carolina on Saturday, more than 4.4 million voters – or nearly 57% of all registered voters in the state – had voted. On Monday, turnout in the 25 western counties hit by the hurricane was even stronger, with 59% of voters registered, said state election board executive director Karen Brinson Bell.

Brinson Bell called voters and election workers in hurricane-affected counties “an inspiration to all of us.”

A voter fills out their ballot during general election early voting, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A person walks past a sign during general election early voting, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

People line up to vote at an early voting location, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Blue Springs, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

FILE – A Delaware County secure drop box for returning absentee ballots is pictured, May 2, 2022, in Newtown Square, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

An election worker demonstrates processing mail-in ballots during a media preview at the Philadelphia Election Warehouse, in Philadelphia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

People line up to vote at the Chicago Early Voting Loop Supersite in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

An elections official counted absentee ballots on the first day of tabulation, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Voters line up to cast their ballots as an early voting location opened in Carmel, Indiana, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Bennett College student Zairen Jackson listens as a fellow student answers a question during a panel discussion in Greensboro, North Carolina, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

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A voter fills out their ballot during general election early voting, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

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In addition to the hurricanes in North Carolina and Floridathe most worrying disruptions of the election period so far have been arson that damaged ballots in two drop boxes near the Oregon-Washington border. Authorities were searching for the person responsible.

The lack of significant and widespread problems has not stopped Trump, the Republican nominee, or the RNC, which is now under his influenceafter making numerous allegations of fraud or election interference during the early voting period, a possible prelude to challenges after election day.

He misinterpreted an ongoing investigation in Pennsylvania in approximately 2,500 potentially fraudulent voter registration applications by claiming that one of the counties was “caught in possession of 2,600 fake ballots and forms, all written by the same person.” The investigation concerns registration requests; nothing indicates that these are ballots.

In Georgia, Republicans sought to prohibit voters from returning mailed ballots to their local election office before the close of polls on Election Day, votes allowed under state law. A judge dismissed their lawsuit during the weekend.

Trump and Republicans have also warned about the possibility of Democrats recruiting. masses of non-citizens vote, a demand they made without proof and that goes against the data, including from Republican secretaries of state. Research has consistently shown that non-citizens registering to vote are rare. Any non-citizen who faces the potential for criminal charges and deportationa significant obstacle.

A case of non-citizen voting was detected during early voting last month and resulted in criminal charges in Michigan against a Chinese student. vote in advance illegally.

This is the first presidential election since Trump lost to Joe Biden four years ago and undertook various attempts to bypass the result and stay in power. This culminated in the violent January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of the results after Trump. told his supporters to “fight like hell”.

Even now, a solid majority of Republicans believe Trump’s lie that Biden was not legitimately elected, despite notice, checks And tell in the battleground states, all affirmed Biden’s victory. A survey conducted last month by Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center showed that the Republicans remain much more skeptical as Democrats that their ballots will be counted accurately this year.

Seeking to restore voter confidence in a system targeted by false claims of widespread fraudRepublican lawmakers in more than a dozen states have passed new voting restrictions since 2020. These rules include shortening the deadline to apply for or return an absentee ballot, reducing the availability of ballot boxes and added identification requirements.

The final weekend before Election Day, Trump continued to falsely claiming the election was rigged against him and declared that a winner of the presidential election should be declared on election nightbefore all the ballots are counted.

Vice President Kamala Harris urged voters not to get caught in the trap. Trump’s tactics to cast doubt on the elections. The Democratic candidate told his supporters at a weekend rally in Michigan that the tactic was intended to suggest to people “that if they vote, their vote won’t matter.” Instead, she urged people who had already voted to encourage their friends to do the same.

Over the course of four years of election lies And conspiracy theories related to votinglocal election officials were confronted harassment and even death threats. This prompted high turnover and led to increased security of electoral offices and polling places, including panic buttons and bulletproof glass.

Although no malicious cyberactivity affecting election offices has been reported, foreign actors have actively used fake social media profiles and websites to stoke partisan vitriol and misinformation. In recent weeks, U.S. intelligence officials have attributed to Russia multiple fake videos alleging election fraud in presidential swing states.

On the eve of Election Day, they issued a joint statement with federal law enforcement, warning that Russia in particular was intensifies its influence operationsincluding in ways that could incite violence, and would likely continue these efforts well after the votes.

Jen Easterly, the nation’s top election security official, urged Americans to rely on state and local election officials for election information.

“This is particularly important as we find ourselves in an election cycle marked by an unprecedented amount of disinformation, including disinformation aggressively peddled and amplified by our foreign adversaries on a scale greater than ever before,” he said. she declared. “We cannot allow our foreign adversaries to vote in our democracy. »

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