58.6 MILLION & COUNTING

Early Voting Total Already Outpaces 2016’s Total Early and Absentee Count

Likely spurred by a pandemic-induced desire to avoid crowds, more people have already voted early as of Sunday than voted early or absentee in all of 2016.

Nine days before Election Day, more people have already voted early than 2016’s early and absentee voting totals, the Associated Press reports. Americans cast 58.6 million ballots by Sunday, more than the 58 million who used early and absentee voting processes in 2016. Twenty-five percent of those are new or infrequent voters, according to the political data firm L2, helping to contribute to early turnout in states like Georgia and Texas, with the split between those registering Democratic or Republican fairly even. Although Democrats led in terms of early voting registrants, the GOP is slowly gaining ground as in-person voting centers open. Experts predict 150 million Americans will turn out to vote this election, possibly resulting in the highest presidential election turnout since 1908.