More than 9.3 million Americans cast early ballots ahead of mideterm elections

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) – More than 9 million Americans have cast early ballots with two weeks to go before November's midterm elections, according to data from a monitor released Tuesday.

The United States Elections Project counted 9,384,208 early votes, with the vast majority being mail-in ballots. A total of 6,833,831 ballots were cast by mail, compared to 2,550,377 votes made in person at a polling station.

There is still a large number of untallied mail-in ballots with more than 41 million requested so far, according to the project, which is run by University of Florida professor Michael McDonald.

Unlike most other developed nations, the US does not make Election Day a federal holiday, meaning that if registered voters wish to cast ballots Nov. 8 they will have to either squeeze it into their work day or vote before or after business hours.

California and Florida have the highest number of early votes cast so far with each tallying well over 1 million. Georgia, which is likely to be a key battleground state yet again this election cycle, is nearing the threshold with 986,597 early ballots cast.

Democrats continue to make up the bulk of voters casting early ballots with about 50% of the total. Just 30% have been cast by Republicans. The remainder is comprised of voters who are not affiliated with either party.

Republicans comprised the minority of early voters in the 2020 presidential election, in part because former President Donald Trump repeatedly cast doubt about the integrity of the early voting system.

Mail-in voting has been in place across many states for some time, though it was heavily expanded during the coronavirus pandemic when many were hesitant to flock to densely populated polling stations.