Biden votes early in the US elections
Early voting is common in the United States. The objective is to improve the participation rate, in addition to reducing queues at voting locations. In addition to voting days before, it is possible to vote by mail.
Before voting, Biden had breakfast with Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, who is seeking to be the first Black woman elected to represent Delaware in the US Senate. They went to The Legend Restaurant & Bakery in New Castle.
How is election decided?
In the US, elections are decided by indirect voting. The president and vice president are not directly elected by the vote of citizens who, in reality, choose the representatives of the Electoral College of their respective states.
The number of delegates in each state ranges from three to 54, being proportional to the size of the population and congressmen. The candidate who obtains the majority of votes from that population takes the total number of delegates, regardless of the margin between the competitors’ percentages. In total, a candidate needs to win 270 of the 538 delegates to be elected.
Biden withdrew from re-election in July
After pressure from Democrats, Joe Biden withdrew from running for re-election, with the announcement made in a letter published on social media. “For now, I want to express my deepest gratitude to all those who worked so hard to see me re-elected”, states an excerpt from the document. Read the letter in full here.