Follow-Up: Early Voting Tops 50.5 Million, a Midterm Record Nearly 5 Million Above the Entire 2022 Early Vote
More than 50.5 million Americans had cast early ballots as of Saturday morning (October 31), according to the University of Florida Election Lab, a record for a midterm election. Election Day for the 2026 midterms is Tuesday, November 3, and the vote will decide control of both chambers of Congress.
When GSM reported the tally on October 31, it stood at more than 49 million. A Friday-evening count put the total at 49.6 million, made up of about 22.9 million returned mail ballots and 26.8 million in-person early votes. The entire early vote in the 2022 midterms was 45.9 million, so this year's total passed it by roughly 5 million ballots with three days still to go, at a pace of about four to five million additional ballots a day nationwide.
In states that record party registration, about 10.7 million registered Democrats and 7.8 million registered Republicans had voted. The Election Lab notes that registration data covers only some states and does not show how anyone actually voted, so the figures cannot predict the outcome.
Locally, Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, had recorded 862,700 voters by Wednesday, up from 564,500 at the same point in 2022, according to an Associated Press analysis. A Guardian analysis of Election Lab data put early voting up 83 percent in South Carolina, 44 percent in Maine, 34 percent in Kansas and 32 percent in Michigan compared with 2022.
Early voting wraps up in many states this weekend; remaining voters will cast ballots at polling places on November 3.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国一处投票站外的「在此投票」指示牌（资料图）。Mrs. Gemstone 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / File photo: A bilingual Vote Here polling place sign in the United States. Photo by Mrs. Gemstone, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- 2026-10-31Early Voting Tops 49 Million, a Midterm Record, as Campaign Enters Final Weekend
- 2026-11-01Follow-Up: Early Voting Tops 50.5 Million, a Midterm Record Nearly 5 Million Above the Entire 2022 Early VoteThis story
