Early Voting Tops 51.31 Million, Surpassing the Entire 2022 Early Vote Before Election Day
More than 51.31 million Americans had already voted by Saturday afternoon, October 31, surpassing the entire early-vote total of the last midterm cycle with three days still to go before Election Day on November 3, according to the University of Florida Election Lab.
The lab put the total at 51.31 million as of 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. In the whole 2022 midterm cycle, 45.9 million people voted early. In-person voting drove the increase: more than 28 million people had voted early in person, compared with about 20.5 million across the entire early-voting period in 2022. A Friday-evening count had put the total at 49.6 million, made up of about 22.9 million returned mail ballots and 26.8 million in-person votes.
Texas showed the surge most clearly, with more than seven million early votes, about 1.5 million more than in the whole 2022 cycle in the state. An Associated Press analysis found 862,700 people had voted in Harris County, which includes Houston, by Wednesday, compared with 564,500 at the same point in 2022. Early voting was up 83 percent in South Carolina, 44 percent in Maine, 34 percent in Kansas and 32 percent in Michigan compared with 2022.
In the roughly 27 states that record the party registration of early voters, registered Democrats had cast about 10.7 million ballots and registered Republicans about 7.8 million. Election experts note that party registration does not show how a person actually voted, and that early totals describe participation, not results.
Tuesday's midterm elections will decide control of Congress, with all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats contested. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 Senate majority and a narrow House edge heading into the final vote on November 3.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：选民在一处提前投票点排队投票（资料图，2024年10月摄于路易斯安那州 Metairie）。摄影：Infrogmation，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / File photo: Voters line up at an early voting site in Metairie, Louisiana, October 2024. Photo by Infrogmation, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
