With just three days until Election Day, pre-election voting has now surpassed two-thirds of all ballots cast during the 2016 presidential election.
More than 91.6 million Americans have voted so far, as a majority of states are reporting record early voting turnout in the 2020 election. While it’s too soon to know how that record turnout will translate to Election Day, the massive early voting numbers suggest a high level of enthusiasm for voting this year, despite the obstacles of a pandemic.
These votes represent about 43% of registered voters nationwide, according to a survey of election officials in all 50 states and Washington, DC, by CNN, Edison Research, and Catalist.
Sixteen states have already seen more than half of their registered voters cast ballots ahead of November 3.
Nationwide, the more than 91.6 millionballots already cast represent about 67% of the more than 136.5 million ballots cast in the 2016 presidential election.
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Pre-Election Day voting is surging nationwide – with many states seeing record turnout in early voting in-person and an influx in mail-in ballots compared to last cycle – with voters wanting to avoid crowding at the polls because of the pandemic.
As of Friday, Texas and Hawaii surpassed their total turnouts from the 2016 general election.
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Thirty-five states and Washington, DC, have crossed their halfway marks for total 2016 ballots cast, including 13 of CNN’s 16 most competitively ranked states — Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Maine, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Nebraska.
About half of the votes already cast this cycle come from those 16 key states, which will play a crucial role in determining who wins the presidency this year.
Some voter information comes from Catalist, a company that provides data, analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit issue-advocacy organizations, and is providing insights into who is voting before November.
The early voting numbers come amid an ongoing pandemic, leading many states to extend their early voting period or expand access to mail-in voting. Voters in some states have braved long lines and endured hours-long waits to cast their ballots in-person.
Supporters of Democratic nominee Joe Biden have shown a strong preference for mail-in voting, while most President Donald Trump’s supporters say they want to vote on Election Day.
Not all states report party affiliations of early voters, but in several states – including Florida, North Carolina, Nevada and Iowa – Republicans are beginning to narrow the Democratic advantage in pre-Election Day voting.
Trump and Biden’s schedules in the final stretch of this campaign have reflected the focus on those competitive states.
In the last weekend before Election Day, Trump was spending Saturday in Pennsylvania, while Biden was campaigning in Michigan with former President Barack Obama. Biden then heads to Philadelphia on Sunday, as the President has five rallies planned in five key states – Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.
