Early votes marred by high-profile errors

A series of incorrect absentee ballots sent out in New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania have drawn criticism from US President Donald Trump and shaken confidence in the smooth running of the general election less than two weeks away on Nov 3.

In New York, as many as 100,000 ballots went out in September with return envelopes printed with wrong names, causing a problem because voters are not allowed to sign an envelope with someone else's name on it. A newly corrected envelope was sent out to voters this month.

The New York City Board of Elections blamed the error on a printing company in Rochester, New York.

On Oct 8, the Franklin County Board of Elections in Ohio said that around 50,000 voters out of 237,498 had received incorrect absentee ballots, and correct ballots would be "sent within 72 hours".

In Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, election officials said on Oct 14 that nearly 29,000 voters were mailed ballots with the wrong contests on them, but they would be sent corrected ballots this week.

Trump has spent months repeatedly warning that mail-in voting is a "disaster" ripe for "fraud".

Nearly 21 million US voters have already cast ballots in the 2020 election, a record-shattering avalanche of early votes driven both by Democratic enthusiasm and a pandemic that has transformed the way the nation votes.