WASHINGTON — As of Thursday, nearly 30 million Americans had cast their votes before Election Day, with 13 million choosing to vote in person at early voting centers and another 17 million casting mail-in ballots, according to the University of Florida Elections Lab.
Total early voting is expected to rise significantly in the days leading up to Election Day on Nov. 5.
Voters will decide whether Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris or Republican nominee Donald Trump will occupy the Oval Office for the next four years. At the national level, they will also decide which political party controls the U.S. House and Senate for the next two years.
According to Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, the presidential race is still up for debate and rates the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as hopeless.
Accordingly, early voting rates are higher in several of these purple states than in some of their counterparts Data from the University of Florida Elections Laboratory.
Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia each received at least 1.2 million early ballots, while California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas each received at least 2 million early ballots.
University of Florida data shows that among states that disclose party breakdowns, Democrats cast nearly 42% of ballots, while Republicans cast 35% and other voters cast about 23%.
Control of the US House of Representatives is up in the air
Sabato’s crystal ball projects that Republicans have at least a slight advantage to gain 212 seats in the House, with Democrats retaining at least 209 seats in that chamber. A further 14 races will be counted as toss-ups, meaning control of the chamber is far from decided.
“Overall, our ratings show only seven Republican-held toss-ups and seven Democratic-held toss-ups, for a total of 14,” said Managing Editor Kyle Kondik and Associate Editor J. Miles Coleman wrote in the latest updatepublished on Thursday morning.
“Splitting the toss-ups down the middle would result in a Republican House of Representatives by 219 votes to 216, so Republicans are technically very narrowly ahead – but neither side is favored in the race for the House majority, even at this late stage.” , they say wrote.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairwoman Suzan DelBene of Washington state told reporters Thursday that the organization has several voter protection measures underway to ensure Americans who want to vote have the opportunity to do so.
Those efforts will not stop when polls close on Election Day but will continue with the counting of absentee votes, she said in a virtual meeting with the Regional Reporters Association.
“That’s obviously a priority for us and some of these races are very, very close. So we want to make sure we are there to make sure ballots are counted across the country,” DelBene said.
Control of the House may not be announced on election night or for several days afterward. It took more than a week after the 2022 midterm elections for The Associated Press called control for the GOP.
The U.S. Senate is leaning toward the GOP
The Senate is leaning slightly toward Republican control, with GOP candidates on track to pick up seats in West Virginia and Montana.
Sabato’s, however, raised Nebraska’s rating from likely Republican to more Republican “as the Republican cavalry had to step in to help” incumbent Republican Sen. Deb Fischer retain her seat against independent challenger Dan Osborn.
“Unlike Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL), the only other two GOP incumbents in races we classify as anything other than Safe Republican, Fischer has arguably never had to run in a legitimate one Race Competitive Statewide General Elections,” Kondik and Coleman wrote.
Early in-person voting as well as who is entitled to vote by post is set by each state, meaning when and where voters can cast their ballots early varies widely.
All states are required to conduct in-person voting on Election Day, scheduled for November 5th. Further information about voting can be found here Here.
