Swing states break early voting turnout records

With less than two weeks before Election Day, more than 20 million Americans had cast their ballots by Wednesday either by mail or through early in-person voting, according to tallies by CNN. In Georgia, the number of ballots cast on the first day of early voting last week were more than double the previous record. By Wednesday morning, the state had accepted more than 1.8 million ballots, which accounts for more than a quarter of all active voters.

In North Carolina, voters had cast more than 1.3 million ballots by Monday, accounting for more than 17 percent of eligible voters. So far Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters have each made up about a third of the votes cast, with other parties garnering smaller numbers of votes. The record turnout comes as residents in Western North Carolina grapple with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

What about other battleground states? In Michigan, about 17 percent of registered voters cast their ballots early or by absentee ballot by Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, voters in Wisconsin on Tuesday encountered delays at the polls due to higher-than-expected turnout for the first day of early voting, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. In Nevada, registered Republicans had cast roughly 38 percent of the vote as of late Monday, slightly eclipsing the 36 percent cast by Democrats, according to reporting by The Hill.

What does this mean for the election? Early voting totals this far from Election Day are not a good predictor of who will win the presidency. However, Republicans are going to the polls early in higher numbers than in 2020. Former President Donald Trump has encouraged his supporters to cast their ballots before Election Day, after he criticized the practice during the last presidential election.

Dig deeper: Check out our coverage of the election in the WORLD Election Center.