More than 600,000 Polish citizens abroad have registered to vote in the October 15 election, according to officials.
Poles based in the US capital queued in the pouring rain to vote at the Polish consulate, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Some 1,400 people had registered to cast their ballots in Washington, almost twice as many as in 2019, according to officials.
In all, more than 48,000 US-based Poles were expected to vote this year, many more than in 2019, when 32,000 registered to cast their ballots, and also more than in the 2020 presidential elections, when mail voting attracted 46,000, the PAP news agency reported.
Voter turnout was expected to be one of the highest ever, according to officials.
US-based Poles began voting on Saturday at 7 a.m. local time in Florida, Georgia, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, and slightly later in Illinois, Texas and Colorado, among other states, as well as in California, Oregon and Washington, Arizona and Nevada, the PAP news agency reported.
Voting was scheduled to close at 9 p.m., or by 6 a.m. on Sunday Polish time, according to officials.
Poles based in Latin America also voted on Saturday, including in Brazil and Argentina, with Poles from Paraguay and Uruguay voting in Buenos Aires, the PAP news agency reported.
Elections were set to end at 9 p.m. or 2 a.m. on Sunday Polish time, according to officials.
Voters from Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia cast their ballots at the Polish embassy in Lima, with the ballot set to end at 9 p.m., or 4 a.m. on Sunday Polish time, the PAP news agency reported.
Poles also voted in Canada, with the elections ending at 9 p.m. in the western city of Vancouver (6 a.m. on Sunday Polish time), and in Mexico City, where Polish voters based in Mexico and Costa Rica could cast their ballots until 9 p.m. (5 a.m. on Sunday Polish time), the PAP news agency reported.
The Polish parliamentary election is combined with a referendum on issues including migration and the retirement age.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, National Electoral Commission PKW