President Obama cast his vote today in Illinois and is encouraging voters in eight different states to do the same, BBC reports .
Obama’s challenger, Mitt Romney is campaigning in Ohio, a swing state which could determine who will be in the White House after the election.
A national poll say Romney has a 50 percent-47 percent support among swing voters. The poll was produced by ABC News and found that in regards to the economy, 52 percent of voters supported Mitt Romney and 43 percent opted for Obama.
President Obama’s ballot casting was done in an effort to encourage voters to vote early in swing states.
An estimated 7.2 million people have already cast their ballots and about 35 percent of the electorate will have cast their ballots by election day.
First Lady Michelle Obama cast her absentee ballot on October 15.
President Obama thanked people who had gone out to the polls already, The New York Times reports:
“For all of you who have not yet early voted, I just want everybody to see what an incredibly efficient process this was thanks to the outstanding folks who are at this particular polling place.”
President Obama still has to focus key states, like Ohio, Virginia and Florida, in order to win the election. In the past, no republican has even taken office without winning Ohio.
Recently, the Obama campaign won a court ruling to keep early voting in Ohio open through the weekend before the election.
Obama has explained his main priorities if he is elected to another term will be to find a budget deal to reduce the US debt and immigration.
