As of Sunday evening, American voters had cast more than 40.1 million early votes for the midterm congressional elections, according to data from the United States Elections Project.
40,114,753 is comprised of 18,325,512 in-person early votes and 21,789,241 mail ballots returned out of the total 57,832,064 that have been requested.
In New Jersey, Democrats have cast 364,345 — or 60.7 percent — of those early ballots, compared to the 134,433, or 22.4 percent — from Republicans and 101,602 — or 16.9 percent — from unaffiliated voters.
Nationally in states with party registration data, Democrats have cast 8,820,289 — or 43 percent — of those early ballots, compared to the 6,963,201, or 34 percent — from Republicans and 4,711,489 — or 23 percent — from unaffiliated voters.
People who requested a mail in ballot don’t always send it back and the process of counting votes can be slower in some places than others, so casual observers often mistake changes in shifting tallies for something sinister but until recently, there was always a high degree of confidence in the balloting process.
The number of ballots submitted surpassed the number cast in 2018, 39.1 million, and this year’s total will increase because election officials are still receiving ballots through the mail and some states allow in-person early voting through the weekend.
The United States Elections Project was created by Professor Michael McDonald, who specializes in American politics at the University of Florida.
Democracy isn’t as healthy as it should be anymore.
With just two days until the midterms, Tuesday is shaping up to be a nail-biter. Election officials are preparing for what could be a long night in contests across the country.
As votes come in, there is a very real possibility outcomes will appear to favor one party at the start, but crown another later on.
Like 2020, the process of determining election winners might extend for days but experts are noting, that is okay and not a sign the system has broken.
In this historic election political campaigns and outside groups have spent nearly $3 billion on a record number of television ads as rhetoric has become increasingly toxic, leading to voter intimidation and a rise in violence. It was just over a week ago that Paul Pelosi was brutally attacked in his home and is now in for a long recovery.