Photos: Americans turn out in massive numbers for early voting

Americans have turned out in massive numbers for early voting in the 2020 general election. There was early voting in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., this year.

According to the United States Elections Project, an unprecedented 100,298,838 million Americans cast early votes before polls opened on Election Day, including 35,733,103 in-person votes. Across the country, states saw record turnouts.

There's a sense of urgency and high interest in the outcome of the presidential election between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger former Vice President Joe Biden which is motivating voters.

The coronavirus pandemic has altered the landscape of the 2020 election. Voters have benefitted from the expansion of mail-in ballot options and early voting. Curbside voting such as the option offered to elderly and disabled voters in Virginia has been expanded in many locations as an option to all voters. Harris County in Texas created a drive-thru voting option this year, with portable voting machines providing a "safer, socially-distant alternative to walk-in voting."

Many Americans, anxious about postal delays and challenges to mail-in ballots, decided to vote in-person ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3. In Georgia, New York, and many other states, people waited hours to cast their ballots. Entertainment, including a marching band in New York City, and free food have helped those waiting to pass the time.

In August, four major sports leagues -- the MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL -- announced a joint initiative to support in-person voting, which included opening the doors of stadiums around the country to be used as polling sites. Fenway Park in Boston, Madison Square Garden in New York City, and the Staples Center in Los Angeles are among those ushering in voters.

People in Houston wait in line on social distancing markers outside an advance polling station.

Texas shattered its 2016 voting record with at least 9.7 million people voting early. The numbers in Texas are high despite the state not expanding vote-by-mail during the pandemic. Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Arizona are among the states that were at least three-quarters of the way to their 2016 vote totals, according to the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida.

Georgia has seen a record turnout. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger predicted that after Election Day, as many as 6 million voters could have cast ballots in this year's general election, up from 4.1 million in 2016.

Dana Clark, wearing an "I Can't Breathe" face mask and pandemic protective bubble, waited with her 18-month-old son Mason at City Hall on the first day of early voting, Oct. 16, in New Orleans. According to The Advocate, Louisiana shattered records for early and mail-in voting with a total of of nearly one million ballots cast, despite a pandemic and two hurricanes.

A group organized by the Farm Arts Collective and costumed as mailboxes dance and sing about voting in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

Plastic sheets between voting booths have been installed at some polling sites to help protect voters.

Voter turnout is ten times higher than in 2016 in California according the Secretary of State Alex Padilla as more than 600,000 Los Angeles County ballots were received at the county registrar.

Pandemic-related measures include sanitizing voting booths.

Cook County jail detainees cast their votes after a polling place in the facility was opened for early voting in Chicago. It is the first time pretrial detainees in the jail will get the opportunity to vote early in a general election.

According to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, CIRCLE, young voters from 18 to 29 are voting early in large numbers. CIRCLE's figures show that more than five million young people have already voted early or absentee in 2020, including nearly three million in 14 key states.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio eats pizza as he stands in line with hundreds of other voters for several hours to cast his ballot during early voting in Brooklyn, New York. This if the first year New York has offered early voting.

Democratic U.S. senate candidate Jaime Harrison, below, waits in a line for early voting with his wife, Marie Boyd and their sons William and Charles, in Columbia, South Carolina.

ABC News' Meredith Longo contributed to this report.