With early voting underway in all seven battleground states and in another three dozen states, millions of Americans have cast their ballots already.
More than 28 million people have voted early so far, according to data from the University of Florida’s Election Lab, with the most voting by mail. Democrats are outpacing Republicans in casting their ballots early, data from 25 states that report party registration shows.
More Republicans have cast roughly 327,000 more ballots in person so far, while more Democrats have returned 1.3 million more mail ballots than registered GOP voters, according to the Election Lab.
The high numbers of voters casting their ballots before Election Day on Nov. 5 has set records in at least two battleground states, North Carolina and Georgia. In Georgia, which President Biden won in 2020, more than 25% of active voters have already cast their ballots, according to Gabe Sterling, chief operating officer for secretary of state.
And in North Carolina, where the western part of the state was devastated by Hurricane Helene, more than 353,000 people voted on the first day of the state’s early-voting period, which was Oct. 17. That figure surpassed the prior record for the opening day of early voting: more than 348,000 in 2020, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Both surpassed the mark of 2 million votes cast Wednesday. Early voting in Georgia lasts until Nov. 1, and in-person early voting runs until Nov. 2 in North Carolina.