Early voting results have been released by officials in several states, providing some insight into the direction of the 2024 race.
Nearly every state offers early voting and mail-in ballots to all registered voters in the weeks leading up to Election Day on Nov. 5.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have ramped up their campaigns targeting crucial swing states.
According to data collection firm TargetSmart, 15.4 million mail-in and early in-person votes had been cast nationwide as of Tuesday afternoon.
Among the votes cast nationally, 24.5 percent were registered Democrats, while 16.5 percent were cast by Republican voters. The higher numbers among Democrats aren’t too surprising since historically Democrats have typically turned out for early voting more so than Republican voters. But Trump in this election cycle has encouraged people to vote early, which has seemed to resound among his supporters based on new data.
Here are some of the early voting results so far:
Nevada
Early voting kicked off in the battleground state of Nevada on Saturday.
Through the first three full days of early voting, a total of 245,356 votes were cast statewide, according to data released by the Secretary of State on Monday evening.
Notably, Republicans outpaced Democrats in casting ballots for the three-day period, the data show. Registered Republicans cast 39.5 percent of the ballots, compared to 36.3 percent from registered Democrats.
According to electoral vote tracker 270toWin, voting patterns in the state show that Nevada has backed Democratic presidential candidates since 2008. In 2016, Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by a margin of 47.9 percent to 45.5 percent. In 2020, Biden won by about 2.4 percent over Trump.
Early voting in Nevada continues through Friday, Nov. 1.
North Carolina
More than a million voters cast ballots in early voting in North Carolina, according to state officials on Monday. That represents a statewide turnout of about 13 percent of North Carolina’s nearly 7.8 million registered voters.
A bulk of the ballots cast were in person, with 916,433 residents choosing to vote at various polling locations.
The hurricane-ravaged state set a turnout record on the first day of early voting, according to the data released by officials. More than 353,000 ballots were cast in the Tar Heel State on Thursday, surpassing the previous record set in 2020 by 1.3 percent.
“[The first day’s] turnout is a clear sign that voters are energized about this election, that they trust the elections process, and that a hurricane will not stop North Carolinians from exercising their right to vote,” Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, wrote in a statement. “Let’s keep it rolling, North Carolina.”
North Carolina, which carries 15 electoral votes, is one of seven critical battleground states that can determine the 2024 election. In 2020, former President Donald Trump won North Carolina over President Joe Biden by 70,000 votes.
To date, 35.4 percent of Democrats cast early votes compared to 33.2 percent registered Republicans, according to TargetSmart’s latest numbers, TargetSmart data show.
Arizona
In the battleground state of Arizona, 464,523 mail-in and early in-person votes have been cast, according to Target Smart.
Significantly more registered Republicans cast votes early in the Grand Canyon State. GOP voters cast 43.3 percent of the votes, compared to 36 percent of early votes cast by registered Democrats, the data show.
The swing state, which holds 11 electoral votes, plays a key role in the presidential election. The state has traditionally supported Republicans in presidential elections. Data show that Arizona voted Republican from 1952 through 2016, except for when Bill Clinton won in 1996. Donald Trump won Arizona in 2016 by nearly 4 percentage points, but lost the state to Biden in 2020 by less than half a percentage point.
Georgia
Voters in the Peach State have turned out in record numbers for a presidential year, according to state officials.
Monday, Oct. 21 marked the eighth day of the early voting period. Georgia voters surpassed the 1 million mark last Friday, state officials said.
“Georgia voters know we’ve made it easy to cast a ballot. It’s really that simple,” Secretary Brad Raffensperger said in a statement. “Over the past four years we’ve worked tirelessly to prepare for this election by adding Early Voting days and investing in infrastructure, only to be rewarded with the lies of Jim Crow 2.0 and a missed All-Star Game. We’re battled tested and ready, despite the critics.”
Just over 310,000 Georgia voters cast their ballot on the first day of voting one week ago. The reported data marks a major increase from 136,739 on the first day of early voting in the 2020 presidential election. It also beat the first day of early voting of 134,962 ballots cast in the 2022 midterm election.
In 2020, Biden beat Trump by 0.2 percent, marking the narrowest margin of victory in the country that year, according to 270towin.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania represents the largest swing state with 19 electoral votes up for grabs in the 2024 presidential election.
TargetSmart’s latest data show that at least 880,071 voters cast early ballots in the state.
Significantly more registered Democrats have turned out during the early voting period, outpacing registered Republicans a whopping 63.5 percent to 27.6 percent, the latest figures show.
The data so far aligns with the state’s voting patterns. Pennsylvania voted Democratic in the six elections prior to 2016 and is considered one of the three “blue wall” states, along with Michigan and Wisconsin. Trump in 2016 won the state by a very narrow margin of only 0.7 percent. Biden in 2020 won Pennsylvania by 1.2 percent, according to 270towin.
Both Harris and Trump have focused on rallying supporters in Keystone State. The presidential nominees have held multiple campaign events in Pennsylvania, underscoring the importance that the battleground plays in securing a presidential win.