More than 50m Americans cast ballots in early voting with three days to go before midterms
Record number of early votes cast, with Democrats outnumbering Republicans in states which collect that information There has been a surge of early voting for the US midterm elections, with millions more Americans going to the polls compared with the last such election amid a series of tight contests that will determine control of Congress. More than 50.5m early votes have been cast across the US as of Saturday…
Key points
- More than 50.5m early votes have been cast as of Saturday morning, nearly 5m more than the 2022 midterms total.
- Registered Democrats have cast 10.7m early votes compared with 7.8m for registered Republicans in states that collect such data.
- Early voting is up 83% in South Carolina, 44% in Maine, 34% in Kansas and 32% in Michigan.
More than 50.5m Americans have cast early ballots for the midterm elections with three days to go before Tuesday's vote, according to an analysis by the University of Florida. That is already nearly 5m more early votes than the total cast in the 2022 midterms.
Democrats appear to be turning out in larger numbers so far. In states that collect party registration data, 10.7 million registered Democrats have voted compared with 7.8 million registered Republicans. The article notes these affiliations do not indicate actual votes cast.
Surge in key Senate races
In Texas, more than 7 million people have already voted early, 1.5 million more than in the 2022 midterms. In Harris county, which includes Houston, 862,700 people had voted as of Wednesday, compared with 564,500 at the same point in 2022.
Early voting is also up in other close Senate contests, according to the Associated Press: 83% in South Carolina, 44% in Maine, 34% in Kansas and 32% in Michigan. Republicans are defending a 53-47 Senate majority, with Democrats targeting states such as Texas, Alaska and Kansas.
Twenty-eight days of this crap in a row is a lot.
— Donald Trump
Trump rallies and voter mood
The midterms will decide control of the House and Senate for the final two years of Trump's second term. The article cites rising costs of food and gasoline, the Iran war and concern over government corruption as the backdrop to the voting.
Trump has held rallies across previously safe states to boost Republican candidates. At a rally in Florida on Friday night, he said: "Twenty-eight days of this crap in a row is a lot."
