More Than 30 Million Americans Have Already Voted Early, and Texas Early Voting Is Up 74 Percent

More than 30 million Americans have already voted with a week to go before the November 3 midterm elections, AURN News reported, citing the University of Florida's Election Lab. The surge is showing up most clearly where control of the Senate will be decided.

An Associated Press analysis of data through October 20 found early voting in Texas up 74 percent compared with the same point in 2022. In Kansas, early voting had more than doubled. Maine, North Carolina and Ohio were each up more than 30 percent. Democrats are trying to flip a Republican-held Senate seat in each of those states, and in most of them Republicans accounted for a smaller share of early voters than they did four years earlier, the AP found.

The AP's earlier snapshot put the national advance vote at more than 13 million mail-in and early in-person ballots, compared with 9 million at the same point in 2022 - a count the Election Lab has since carried past 30 million as the final week opened. The AP noted the increase also reflects a few states that expanded early voting opportunities and others that made more of their data available since the last midterms.

Both reports carry the same caution: the early totals suggest strong participation, but they do not establish which candidates are ahead. Midterm elections typically favor the party out of power in Washington; this year Republicans hold both chambers of Congress and the White House, and the AP tied blowback against Republicans in states the party did not expect to defend to dissatisfaction with tariffs, the cost of living, and high gas and diesel prices caused by the Iran war. In Texas, early voting runs through Friday, October 30, and Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.