Early voting tops 30M

Early voting across much of the U.S. for the 2022 midterm elections has exceeded 30 million, according to a comprehensive voting tracker.

Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida, reports in his database that 31,988,292 ballots have been cast during early voting this election cycle, including more than 13 million in-person votes and more than 18 million mail-in ballots cast.

Early voting has already ended in most states or is wrapping up. Only a few states do not offer in-person early voting.

States with the largest amount of early voting data include California, Texas and Florida, which have all recorded at least 4 million early votes.

Those states reporting at least 3 million votes include Washington, Georgia and North Carolina, according to the tracker. The remaining states have recorded 2 million votes or less.

Georgia, specifically, has captured a lot of attention as early voting surged in the state after Republican leadership passed a restrictive voting law last year.

While the state has seen record early voting turnout for a midterm election, critics have warned that Black voters may have lower turnout because of limitations on ballot boxes and a new voter ID requirement.

McDonald tweeted on Wednesday that the “African-American share of the early vote edged down to 29.1%” in his latest data.

“I think it will end up around 28%, which will be similar to the 27.7% in the 2020 November election that led to the run-off election,” the political analyst added.