With 5 Days to Go, More Americans Have Voted Early In Person Than by Mail

(Left) The Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks at a campaign event at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Oct. 18, 2024; (Right) The Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, speaks at Trump Tower in New York City on Sept. 26, 2024. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images; Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

With less than a week before the Nov. 5 General Election, more than 60 million Americans have cast an early ballot, figures released on Oct. 31 reveal.

Data released by the University of Florida Election Lab show that more than 32 million people have cast early votes at polling places ahead of the contest, while another 28 million have returned mail-in ballots. More than 66 million mail ballots have been requested, according to the compiled data.

In the two dozen states that report by party affiliation, a slightly higher number of registered Democrats, about 11.5 million, have voted so far. Meanwhile, about 10.7 million registered Republican voters have cast ballots already, the data show.

Of those who voted early in person, about 4.3 million were Republicans, outpacing Democrats by about 900,000 votes, the university’s compiled election figures show.

About 7.6 million Democrats have so far returned mail-in ballots, compared with a little more than 6 million Republicans. About 19 million Democrats have requested mail-in ballots, while Republicans have requested about 13 million, the figures show.

So far, 44.4 percent of the mail ballots requested by GOP voters have been returned compared with 40 percent of the mail ballots requested by Democrats.

During the 2020 election, which was affected by the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, vastly more people voted by mail than early in person. About 65 million mail-in ballots were returned four years ago, compared with 35 million early in-person votes.

Swing State Breakdown

In the swing state of Georgia, some 3.4 million have voted so far, according to the compiled data, and officials in the state have said that about 50 percent of registered voters will have cast ballots by the end of Oct. 31.

The Peach State, however, does not report ballots by party affiliation.

“We don’t know who’s going to win and who wins will decide who sues us, essentially at the end of the day,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said at a news conference on Oct. 31.

“So, if Vice President [Kamala] Harris wins, we expect Trump officials to sue us. If President [Donald] Trump wins, we expect Harris officials to sue us.”

Michigan, a state that also does not report party affiliation, has had about 2.1 million people cast ballots so far, data show. Meanwhile, about 1.1 million have voted early in Wisconsin, which doesn’t report by party affiliation.

In Arizona, another swing state, Republicans have taken a nearly 8-point lead over Democrats in the early-voting battle, the website shows. The state, which reports only mail-in ballots, has had more than 1.8 million returns.

About 872,000 have cast early ballots in Nevada. Republicans have a nearly 5-point lead over Democrats in the Silver State, with registered GOP voters casting 339,407 to Democrats’ 297,255, according to the election figures.

Meanwhile, early election data show that Republicans have a more than 45,000-vote lead in North Carolina over Democrats in terms of overall early voting.

In Pennsylvania, which reports only mail ballots, Democrats have a 380,000-ballot lead over Republicans as of Oct. 31, the data show.

A Pennsylvania judge on Oct. 30 sided with Trump’s campaign and extended in-person early voting in Bucks County, a suburb of Philadelphia that had long lines on the final day of early voting earlier this week.

Judge Jeffrey Trauger wrote in a one-page order that Bucks voters who want to apply for an early mail-in ballot have until Nov. 1 to cast their votes. In response, Bucks County officials said in a statement that they are “pleased to be able to offer additional days for those who are still seeking to vote on-demand.”

Unlike other states with early voting, Pennsylvania does not allow early voting on voting machines at polling locations.

Both Harris and Trump have made numerous visits to all seven swing states during the 2024 election cycle.

Turnout Higher

Unlike in 2020, Republicans and Trump have encouraged their supporters to cast early votes rather than to wait until Election Day. The early turnout has already broken records in Georgia and North Carolina.

Campaigns usually want their voters to cast ballots ahead of Election Day so they can focus their resources on getting more marginal supporters to the polls at the last minute.

“I am telling everyone to vote early,” Trump said earlier in October on a podcast hosted by conservative Dan Bongino.

It’s unclear what this means for the election, however. The early vote data only reveal whether voters are registered with a party, not whom they are voting for, and the early electorate can change from day to day as more people vote early.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.