Early voting ends with one demographic, Latinos, boosting Clinton
African American turnout appears to be down from the last two election cycles, when voters came out in record numbers to support the first black president.
By MICHAEL WILNERDemocratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton accepts the nomination on the fourth and final night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 28, 2016.(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON -- Early voting has ended in critical swing states and Latino voters appear to be turning out in record numbers, responding to an election that featured viscous debate over Mexican immigration to the US.A surge in the demographic has likely built for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton an insurmountable lead in the state of Nevada, with 6 electoral college votes, where 7 in 10 registered voters had already cast ballots by Saturday. More registered Democrats turned out than registered Republicans by a margin of 13.7%— a larger gap than in 2012, when US President Barack Obama handily won the state.High Latino turnout also marked early voting in Georgia, North Carolina and Florida, where state Democratic officials had already reported weeks before a massive surge in Latino voter registration.The trend— measured by data Catalist, an analytics firm measuring early voting figures— is a promising one for Clinton, whose campaign believes that Latino voters will turn out to vote as much for her as they will against Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, who launched his campaign warning against Mexico sending their "rapists and criminals" over the border to steal American women and jobs.Over 30 million Americans voted early or absentee this year— more than any other US election cycle thus far. Those options ended for voters on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, depending on the state, to allow their localities to receive all ballots in time to count by election night.African American turnout appears to be down from the last two election cycles, when voters came out in record numbers to support the first black president.Trump has several slim paths to the White House on Tuesday that all require him to win a full slate of battlegrounds currently leaning toward his rival.