The United States Election Project reported that as of Sunday afternoon, 40,114,753 early votes had been cast nationwide, 18.3 million were cast in-person and 21.7 million by mail. This data proves that more voters have gone to the polls during the early voting period than in the last midterm elections. In 2018, about 39.1 million people voted early.
"An upward trajectory of early voting"
Election Project founder, Professor Michael McDonald, explained to The Washington Post that this trend of increased early voting is more consistent as the years go by due to the advances in early voting:
We have been on an upward trajectory of early voting from election to election, and that is because states are offering early voting more frequently or more expansively.
McDonald stated that Democrats are generally more likely to vote before the official day, while Republicans tend to prefer to go in person on Election Day. That trend showed a change this year in Florida, where 43.4% of Republican voters have already cast their vote compared to 36.7% of Democrats. The other 19.9% were unaffiliated or registered third party voters.
In Pennsylvania, Democrats are outperforming the national average, even though the state is considered to be a "battleground state" with a tight Senate race. Democrats make up 69.7% of early voters, while Republicans make up only 21.1%.
National percentages that 34% of early voters are Republicans while 43% are Democrats. This data only takes into account the 23 states that report partisan information.
