Early vote tracker: Where ballots stand 8 days before Nov. 3

With eight days left before the Nov. 3 midterms, the early vote is still growing fast, and the big national tallies are approaching 30 million. The numbers below are the newest ones published by state election offices and the main trackers since Sunday's NewsCubby tracker. Each comes with its source and the time it was current.

How many people have voted so far?

NBC News' early-vote tracker showed 29,163,839 ballots cast nationally as of its 11 a.m. ET update Monday. Of those, 14,607,248 came by mail and 14,556,591 in person. NBC also counted 57,819,835 mail ballots requested or sent to voters. Sunday's NewsCubby tracker cited 26,974,129 ballots from the same NBC tracker as of early Sunday, so roughly 2.19 million ballots were added in about a day.

The University of Florida Election Lab, which many outlets use for national counts, showed 29,417,415 ballots in its national data file updated at 11:20 a.m. ET Monday, with 48 states and Washington, D.C., reporting. CNN's live coverage Monday described the national early vote as nearing 30 million ballots. CNN's tracking page says its state totals come from CNN, the Associated Press and the data firm Catalist.

Totals differ by tracker because each pulls state files at different times, and some states report daily while others report weekly. That's why every figure here has a source and a time.

What does the party data show, and what doesn't it show?

NBC's national breakdown of ballots cast, based on state party registration where it exists and a TargetSmart model where it doesn't, was 47% Democratic, 35% Republican and 18% other or unaffiliated as of Monday morning.

These figures describe who has returned a ballot, not which candidates they chose. CNN's tracker notes that ballots are secret, that the data can't show how many votes a party or candidate has won, and that early voters tend to be older and less Republican than the electorate as a whole. An ABC News analysis published Oct. 22 made a similar point. Citing a Pew Research Center study of 2024 voters, ABC said Democrats won mail ballots by about 24 points that year, while Republicans won early in-person votes by about 14 points and Election Day votes by about 16. ABC said the key unknown is whether lower-propensity Republicans turn out later.

Republican leaders have pushed their own voters to bank ballots early this year. The Washington Examiner reported Oct. 5 that President Donald Trump urged Republicans to vote by mail despite his past criticism of the method. At a rally in Port Huron, Michigan, on Sunday, Trump told supporters that turnout drops when he isn't on the ballot and urged them to vote, CNN reported.

What's new in Texas?

The Texas Secretary of State publishes daily early-voting turnout by county. NewsCubby added up the statewide figures in the office's data files, updated Monday morning, Oct. 26. Through Sunday, Oct. 25, they show 4,394,304 ballots: 4,192,368 cast in person and 201,936 by mail. That's about 23.1% of the 19,041,684 registered voters listed in the same files.

These are unofficial, county-reported numbers. Sunday added 184,004 in-person votes from 155 of the state's 254 counties. The other 99 showed no Sunday in-person votes, since some counties don't offer Sunday voting and others may not have reported yet. Through Saturday, Oct. 24, the same files show 4,207,734 ballots. Through Friday, Oct. 23, they show 3,728,945, slightly above the roughly 3.70 million figure Sunday's tracker cited from earlier SOS data, since counties keep revising their counts.

Among the largest counties, the latest files list Harris County at 579,313 ballots, Dallas at 371,806, Tarrant at 337,084, Travis at 262,721 and Bexar at 256,946.

Texas doesn't register voters by party. NBC's TargetSmart model puts the Texas early vote at 46% Republican, 44% Democratic and 10% other. In-person early voting in Texas ends Friday, Oct. 30, according to the secretary of state.

What's new in Georgia?

FOX 5 Atlanta, citing the Georgia secretary of state's unofficial turnout dashboard, reported Monday morning that 1,781,209 ballots had been accepted: 1,698,469 in person and 82,740 by absentee ballot. That's 23.7% of Georgia's 7,530,073 active voters. Sunday's NewsCubby tracker cited 1,632,975 through Oct. 23 from a separate state data source.

Absentee voting is running well behind the last midterm. FOX 5 reported that 164,750 absentee ballots had been requested, compared with more than 285,000 in 2022, and Georgia's request deadline passed Oct. 23. In-person voting, by contrast, was 12% ahead of the same point in 2022 as of Oct. 20, according to the secretary of state's office. Georgia set a first-day turnout record on Oct. 13, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said at the time that the record showed voters trust the integrity of the state's elections, Fox News reported.

Georgia doesn't register voters by party. A TargetSmart model cited by FOX 5 and NBC estimates the early electorate at 54% Democratic, 41% Republican and 5% other. Early voting ends Friday, Oct. 30.

What's new in North Carolina?

The NC State Board of Elections' absentee counts file, posted at 4:41 a.m. ET Monday, shows 1,583,181 ballots. That includes 1,523,135 cast at early voting sites and 60,046 returned by mail from civilian, military and overseas voters. The board says early in-person ballots are added to its data the day after they're cast.

North Carolina does register voters by party. By registration, the file shows 658,506 Democrats (41.6%), 547,351 unaffiliated voters (34.6%) and 373,431 Republicans (23.6%), with Libertarian and Green voters making up the rest. NBC lists a similar split. Unaffiliated voters can support either party, and registration doesn't show how anyone voted.

The board says early voting ends at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31. During early voting, eligible residents can register and vote on the same day, and voters are asked to show photo ID.

What's new in Michigan?

Michigan opened statewide early in-person voting on Saturday, Oct. 24. CNN reported Monday that more than 77,000 people voted early in person on Saturday and that more than 1 million ballots had been cast as of Sunday morning, citing secretary of state data. NBC's tracker listed 1,141,300 ballots, including 1,059,893 absentee ballots and 81,407 early in-person votes. A Michigan Department of State release on Oct. 20 reported 789,572 ballots cast, and Michigan Public reported 986,189 on Oct. 23, citing the office.

Michigan doesn't register voters by party. NBC's TargetSmart model puts its early vote at 54% Democratic, 37% Republican and 9% other. The secretary of state's office says early voting sites are open at least eight hours a day through Sunday, Nov. 1, and that eligible residents can still register with their city or township clerk through 8 p.m. on Election Day with proof of residency.

What about other key states?

NBC's tracker, as of Monday morning, lists these totals for other closely watched states (party shares come from state registration unless noted): - Ohio: 1,018,566 ballots (TargetSmart model: 49% Democratic, 43% Republican). CNN reported Monday that Democrats make up about the same share of Ohio's early voters as at this point in 2022, and a larger share than in 2024. - Wisconsin: 558,693 ballots per NBC. CNN, citing Catalist, put the total at more than 420,000 and said counties that backed Kamala Harris in 2024 were turning out faster than counties that backed Trump. Wisconsin has no party registration. - Arizona: 871,428 ballots (38% Democratic, 39% Republican, 23% other). - Nevada: 387,319 ballots (39% Democratic, 36% Republican, 25% other). - Pennsylvania: 771,806 mail ballots (67% Democratic, 24% Republican). - Iowa: 207,858 ballots (51% Democratic, 32% Republican). ABC's analysis found Iowa's early vote about 18 points more Democratic than in 2024. - Maine: 179,566 ballots (51% Democratic, 21% Republican, 28% other).

Where and how can I still vote early this week?

Rules and hours vary by county, so check your official state or county election site before you go. Vote.gov links to every state's official voting information, including early voting and absentee rules. - Georgia: early voting through Friday, Oct. 30. The secretary of state's My Voter Page lists your early voting sites. - Texas: early voting through Friday, Oct. 30. VoteTexas.gov, run by the secretary of state, has voter information, and county election offices post locations. - North Carolina: through 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31. The State Board's Early Voting Site Search lists sites and hours by county. - Michigan: through Sunday, Nov. 1, with some communities offering extra days. Find your site at mi.gov/earlyvoting. - Ohio: early in-person voting runs through Sunday, Nov. 1, from 1 to 5 p.m., according to the Ohio secretary of state. Hours this week are 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., extended to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, which is also the deadline to request an absentee ballot. Mailed ballots must be received by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. - Iowa: in-person absentee voting at county auditor offices through Monday, Nov. 2. Mailed ballots must reach the auditor by 8 p.m. on Election Day, according to the Iowa secretary of state.

What we know

• More than 29 million ballots had been cast nationally as of late Monday morning, according to NBC News and the University of Florida Election Lab, with mail and in-person votes now roughly equal.
• Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan have each topped 1 million ballots, according to state data and the trackers cited above.
• In states that report party registration, registered Democrats make up a larger share of early ballots so far, according to NBC and North Carolina's state data.

What we don't know yet

• How many people will vote on Election Day, and whether lower-propensity voters of either party turn out late. ABC and CNN both flag this as the main open question.
• Final weekend counts in Texas, where 99 of 254 counties showed no Sunday in-person votes in the files NewsCubby read Monday morning.
• How any of these ballots were marked. No votes are counted or released before polls close.

What happens next

Georgia and Texas close early voting Friday, North Carolina on Saturday afternoon, and Michigan and Ohio on Sunday. NewsCubby will keep tracking the numbers as state offices post new files.

*Credits: reporting and data from NBC News, CNN, ABC News, Fox News, FOX 5 Atlanta, the Washington Examiner, Michigan Public, the University of Florida Election Lab, the Texas Secretary of State, the North Carolina State Board of Elections, the Georgia Secretary of State, the Michigan Department of State, the Iowa Secretary of State and the Ohio Secretary of State. NewsCubby articles are produced with AI assistance and reviewed by humans.*

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