More than 9 million Americans have already voted in the midterm elections, according to the United States Elections Project.
The tally, two weeks before the 2022 midterm elections, includes 6.8 million voters who have mailed in a ballot and 2.5 million voters who voted in person. Those numbers come from the 35 states where early balloting is ongoing and have reported the figures to the Elections Project.
According to the USEP, California and Florida have the highest number of registered voters who have already cast a ballot.
California has had 1.3 million ballots cast early, with 1.2 million Floridians voting early. Georgia is not far behind in the vote-casting, with 986,597 votes cast in advance of the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
Many states could see record numbers of those voting early, said University of Florida professor Michael McDonald, who heads the Elections Project. More states have opened up early voting within the past week, and there is more interest in races, according to McDonald.
“It does seem very robust, early voting. … I think we’re looking at more like a 2018 election, definitely,” McDonald said on Tuesday, noting that the midterm elections had some of the highest turnout numbers in the nation’s history.
Broken down by party affiliation, 2.4 million Democrats have voted early, and 1.5 million Republicans have cast early ballots. Nearly 1 million who did not give or did not give a party affiliation, have also voted.
More women than men have cast early ballots, and those over age 65 make up the largest early voter group by age.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 46 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands offer early in-person voting (this includes states with all-mail elections).
There are four states — Alabama, Connecticut, Mississippi, and New Hampshire — that do not offer pre-Election Day in-person voting options for all voters. Some may offer it for certain absentee voters.
For the 2022 midterms, nearly 42 million mail-in ballots have been requested nationwide.