More Than 34 Million People Have Voted Already as Researchers Reveal States With Most Pre-Election Ballots

Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in a file photo. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

More than 34 million pre-midterm ballots have been cast in more than 45 states, according to data from election officials and researchers.

The U.S. Election Project, a University of Florida program that compiles state voting data, shows that 35.5 million people have voted in 44 states as of Friday. Meanwhile, officials with Edison Research and Catalist told CNN that 34.6 million have voted as of Friday in 47 states.

Early voting for 2022 is ahead of the 2018 pace across the states where data is currently available as compared with the past three midterms. However, it’s too early to determine whether the turnout will reach the same levels as in 2018 as there are still several more days to go before the Tuesday, Nov. 8 contest.

More than 4 million early ballots have been cast in Texas, California, and Florida so far, according to the U.S. Election Project.  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a Thursday news release that more than 2.2 million Georgia residents have cast early ballots, breaking all-time records for midterm elections.

“By close of business today, two million Georgians will have cast their ballot in person—a record for Early Voting in a midterm,” said Raffensberger, who faced criticism from former President Donald Trump and Republicans for how his office handled the 2020 election, including tallying mail-in ballots. “Georgia is the state where voters show up early, and our county election directors have created that infrastructure to make it a resounding success.”

Officials say that some 103 million people cast early ballots during the presidential election in 2020. Early voting got a significant boost two years ago when many states made it more readily available due to the COVID-19 pandemic—a move that critics say opened up more avenues for voter fraud and significant delays.

Voters in Brazil, for example, cast presidential ballots last Sunday. Election officials in that country were able to tally up all the votes, which were done in person, within just a few hours.

Every state offers the opportunity to cast early ballots—some by mail, some in person, some both. For places with in-person early voting, the windows in which someone can cast an early ballot vary from more than a month to just over a week.

Early voting and in-person absentee voting starts as early as nearly six weeks ahead of Election Day itself in places such as Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, South Dakota, Vermont, and Virginia.

In other places, in-person, early voting is open right up to Election Day itself. Others, including Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and Ohio accept voters until the day before the election. Some, like New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Oklahoma wrap up the process the Saturday before Election Day. Louisiana closes its early polls a week before Election Day.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.