Nearly 45 million Americans have already voted early ahead of next week’s Election Day, according to data released by a monitor on Monday.
The University of Florida’s Election Lab reported that approximately 44.87 million early ballots have been cast, either by mail or through in-person voting. The distribution of these ballots is nearly equal between those who voted early at polling stations and those who mailed in their ballots.
In states where party affiliation data is available, slightly more Democrats (8.79 million) have voted early compared to Republicans (7.95 million). Additionally, around 5.3 million voters who are unaffiliated with either major party have also participated.
Most U.S. states offer some form of early voting for individuals unable to make it to polling stations during the workweek leading up to next Tuesday’s election.
Polling data compiled by RealClearPolitics indicates that Trump and Harris are in a tight race nationally as Election Day approaches on Tuesday, November 5. However, Trump holds a narrow lead in crucial battleground states that will significantly influence the election’s outcome. His lead is smallest in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and North Carolina, where he is ahead by 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, 0.7%, and 0.8%, respectively. He leads by 1.5% in Nevada and 2.3% in Georgia.
These states are critical because the U.S. does not directly elect its presidents. Instead, the election is determined through the Electoral College, where 538 representatives cast their votes according to their states’ results.
To win, a candidate must secure 270 Electoral College votes. Electors are assigned to states based on their population, and most states award all their electors to the candidate who wins the popular vote in that state.
However, Nebraska and Maine do not follow the winner-take-all model and instead allocate their electoral votes proportionally based on the final results.
