More than 51 million Americans have voted before US midterms as early voting surges
With over 51.3 million ballots cast ahead of the vote, early voting has reached record levels in the 2026 midterm elections, surpassing the 45.9 million ballots cast before Election Day during all of the 2022 midterms. The figure, tracked by the University of Florida's Election Lab, reflects a sustained shift toward early voting that has accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic expanded mail-in and in-person early voting options.
In the 2024 presidential election, nearly 60% of voters cast ballots early or by mail, a significant increase from approximately 50% in 2022 and 40% in 2018, according to the US Census Bureau. Early in-person voting specifically rose from 18% of voters in 2022 to 30.7% in 2024. Mail-in voting, while down from its 2020 peak, remains more common than pre-pandemic levels, accounting for roughly 30% of votes cast in 2024, according to the Election Assistance Commission.
The surge has been driven by expanded access and voter enthusiasm. States including North Carolina, Texas, South Carolina and Georgia have reported record midterm early voting turnout. In North Carolina, more than 1 million Democrats have already voted compared with 679,000 Republicans in states reporting party registration. Texas saw 7.6 million citizens vote early, while South Carolina and Georgia also set midterm records. Early voter turnout was up more than 30% in several states including Maine, Kansas and Michigan compared to 2022 levels.
However, the expansion of early voting has introduced complex procedural variations. Rules governing verification, deadlines and counting procedures vary considerably across states. Some states begin processing mail ballots weeks before Election Day, while others, including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, do not allow processing until polls open at 7am on Election Day, often resulting in longer result tabulation times. Mail ballots take longer to count than votes cast in person, since officials must check each envelope, confirm the voter is eligible and remove the ballot before it can be scanned.
Legal challenges surrounding mail-in voting procedures have persisted throughout the cycle. The Trump administration pursued multiple executive orders and litigation regarding mail-in voting rules, including efforts related to citizenship verification and ballot envelope requirements. Federal courts have blocked many of these efforts. On June 29, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that federal law allows counting mail ballots received after Election Day if postmarked by that day. The administration's attempt to require election officials to set aside ballots sent to about 20,000 people suspected of being non-citizens was rejected by lower courts, which found no feasible way to segregate ballots without potentially catastrophic effects on the entire system. The Supreme Court also refused to allow a USPS rule requiring unique barcodes on ballot envelopes to take effect for the 2026 midterms, finding the government unlikely to succeed on the merits of its legal argument.
As vote counting continues in the days following Election Day, the focus remains on ensuring every valid ballot is counted accurately amid the complex mix of early voting methods and varying state rules.
