Early Voting Smashes Records With More Than Fifty Million Ballots In as Both Parties Sprint Into the Final Days
More than fifty million Americans have already cast ballots, with the University of Florida Election Lab’s latest tally putting the total near fifty-two point eight million. That is well above the roughly forty-five point nine million early ballots recorded during the entire two thousand twenty-two midterm cycle, according to the Lab and reports by the Guardian and Seoul Economic Daily. Texas turnout is up about half compared with this point in the last midterm cycle, while Kansas and South Carolina have also seen strong participation, according to the Times of India and NBC Dallas.
The scale is historic, but early-vote totals are not election results. Among states that report party registration, registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans among early voters, the Seoul Economic Daily reported. Registration does not reveal how anyone voted.
Courts are also weighing disputes. In California, a federal judge barred the Justice Department from threatening or coercing election workers over disputed ballots. An appeals court again rejected the department’s request to set aside more than twenty thousand ballots, according to the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, NBC News and the Guardian. In Alaska, the Justice Department has surged FBI resources into a criminal probe tied to a Senate candidate and asked a court to set aside ballots ranking that candidate. State attorneys called the request “not even possible” under ballot-secrecy rules, the Anchorage Daily News reported. These proceedings are not findings of wrongdoing.
With two days until Election Day on Tuesday, check your local election office for polling locations, hours, identification requirements and, if you voted by mail, ballot status. Use official state or local sources for the latest instructions.
A quick check-in with neighbors can help someone find reliable voting information, too. What questions are people in your community still trying to answer before Tuesday?
