More than 43 million Americans have voted ahead of the U.S. midterm elections on 3 November, when control of Congress will be decided. The voting comes with less than a week to go before Election Day.
University of Florida Election Lab data indicate that four to five million early votes have been cast each day, a substantially faster pace than in most previous elections. Professor Mike McDonald, who runs the database, said Texas had the highest above-average turnout rate so far.
More than 5.8 million ballots have been cast in Texas. McDonald said the state had already exceeded its 2022 numbers by around 1.75 million voters. Some counties along the Mexican border, where more than 90% of residents are Hispanic, have seen a surge in voting.
In the roughly half of states that require voter affiliation, figures on Thursday showed Democrats had cast 44% of early ballots, Republicans 31.2% and voters with no party affiliation 24.7%. McDonald said early voting had also increased among voters who did not register with a specific party, although the data do not show which candidates they chose.