Early Voting Surges Past 54 Million Before Election Day, Topping the 2022 Midterm Total by 8 Million

Early voting surged ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections, with more than 54 million Americans having cast ballots before Election Day, according to the University of Florida Election Lab, in reporting by USA Today. That is about 8 million more than in 2022, when about 45.9 million early votes were recorded ahead of Election Day. Early votes are ballots cast in person and mailed-in ballots returned before Election Day.

States with competitive Senate races, including Texas, Maine and Kansas, are showing large increases in early voting, according to a recent Associated Press analysis cited by USA Today, and South Carolina and North Carolina are also recording higher early-voting numbers than in 2022. The numbers come from the Election Lab's continuously updated tracker, and USA Today noted that some states do not report voting numbers daily, so counts can lag actual activity, and that states and local jurisdictions run elections with different reporting methods.

The increase indicates higher voter interest, but it does not predict which party will take charge of Congress, USA Today reported. In a separate USA Today analysis of what early voting does and does not show, Election Lab director Michael McDonald assessed that the initial outlook indicates a younger, more diverse and politically independent electorate is showing up, while cautioning that the data alone, like the polls, cannot predict who will control the House and Senate.

Essex County's own early-vote finish was reported by this station earlier Monday (SQ-20261102-049, published): 45,145 ballots cast across the county in the nine-day early period that ended Sunday. Tuesday's Election Day voting in New Jersey runs from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at assigned polling places.