More than 43 million Americans have already voted in the US midterm elections, according to data from the University of Florida Election Lab, which runs the Election Lab database. Prof Mike McDonald, who runs the database, says four to five million early votes have been cast each day. That is a much higher rate than in most previous elections.
McDonald says Texas has the highest above-average turnout so far. More than 5.8 million ballots have been cast in the state, about 1.75 million more than its 2022 total. Hispanic communities are also turning out at a much higher rate than usual.
Data from states that require voters to register a party affiliation show more Democratic votes cast. Republican early voting remains generally similar to 2022, according to McDonald. Figures cited in the report show 44% of early ballots came from Democrats, 31.2% from Republicans and 24.7% from voters with no party affiliation. These figures cover only about half of states, those that require affiliation.
In North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, which require voters to list their race, early votes by Hispanic and Black voters increased. Voting among white voters is on par with 2022 early voting figures. McDonald said that pattern makes sense because communities of color are more frequently part of the Democratic coalition, and white voters are more frequently part of the Republican coalition.
McDonald said overall turnout appears on track to outpace 2020 or even 2018. He said he believes voters are returning ballots earlier, possibly because of concerns about postal voting, though he said the data does not show what is causing this.
The city of Minneapolis said on Thursday that it has set an early voting record for a non-presidential election. Early voting will taper off as states end the option in the days before the election on Tuesday, 3 November.