 Across the country, Americans have already begun voting for the upcoming election, as early voting is well into effect, with over 58 million ballots cast according to the U.S. elections project. In Massachusetts, early voting began on the 17th, with numerous early voting locations opening across the state, including Fenway Park and the Boston Public Library. Alex Benthing, a student organizer for the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, said the COVID-19 pandemic makes it more important than ever to vote early. There's a lot of reasons why we want to kind of like space out the crowds and, you know, of course, you know, nothing's a guarantee right now, so you just want to show up at your earliest convenience so that nothing comes up that would prevent you from voting. Here in Massachusetts, there have already been one and a quarter million early voters, which is more than the total number of early voters in 2016, according to Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, Will Holmes, BUTV 10.