More than 27 million Americans have voted early, and Harris County posts its fastest midterm start on record

More than 27.4 million Americans had voted early as of 6 a.m. Monday, Fox News reported, including more than 4.35 million in Texas and more than 986,000 in Michigan. Newsweek, citing the University of Florida Election Lab, put the total at more than 28 million, with 3.1 million in California, 2.7 million in Florida, 1.5 million in North Carolina and more than 1.1 million in Virginia. An Associated Press analysis found early voting in Texas up 74% from the same point in 2022, Kansas more than doubling its early ballot total, and Maine, North Carolina and Ohio each up more than 30%, according to Newsweek.

In Harris County, more than half a million voters, about one in five registered voters, cast ballots in the first week, ABC13 Houston reported. More than 104,000 voted in person on the first day, a first day midterm record, and each following day beat the same day in 2018 and 2022; no midterm since 1998 started faster in county records, ABC13 reported. University of Houston political scientist Nancy Sims said turnout is high even in suburban, traditionally Republican areas, but that "it's a little hard to extrapolate."

Of 13.7 million early voters in states that record party registration, 45.1% were registered Democrats and 30.7% were registered Republicans, and half of voters with age data were over 65, Newsweek reported. An ABC News analysis last week found that early voters favored Democrats, but noted Republicans have historically done better on Election Day and said lower propensity Republicans could still narrow the gap. The Republican National Committee relaunched its Swamp the Vote USA site to push early voting, and Trump voted early in Florida on Oct. 24, Newsweek reported.