Voter turnout 2020: Early voting tops 100 million ballots cast
Joey GarrisonWASHINGTON — At least 101.2 million people, a record, voted early in the presidential election between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden as voters head to the polls on Election Day.
Figures are according to the U.S. Elections Project, which tracks early voting and mail-in ballots returns in states. The tally crossed the century-mark Tuesday morning.
It includes around 36 million in-person early votes and more than 65 million ballots cast by mail. The number will continue to grow as more votes cast before Tuesday are publicized by states.
The massive early voting turnout puts the U.S. on track to likely surpass 150 million voters overall for the election, which would mark the highest turnout of eligible voters by percentage in a presidential election since 1908. That year Republican William Howard Taft defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan with 65.7% of the voting-eligible population participating.
In 2016, 47 million people – the previous early voting record – voted before Election Day in the presidential election between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. Overall, 138.8 million people, 60.1% of the voter-eligible population, voted in 2016.
This year's 100 million early voters is about 43% of the nation's estimated 233.7 million eligible voters as of 2018. Seventy-three percent of the entire 2016 turnout has already voted before Election Day numbers are tallied. For the first time in modern U.S history, more votes this year are expected to have voted early than on Election Day.
More:Election live updates: Biden campaign says 'no scenario' for Trump to win race on election night
More:'Unprecedented': Voter turnout in election could reach highest rate in more than a century
Most states expanded mail-voting opportunities amid the coronavirus pandemic and several others extended in-person early voting periods from four years ago.
States with the highest turnout compared to its overall turnout in the 2016 election are: Texas, 108%; Montana, 99%; Washington, 98%; Nevada, 97%; Oregon, 96%; North Carolina, 95%; and Georgia, 94%.
Democrats have dominated mail-voting in the 19 states that detail party registration data, accounting for 48% of ballots, compared to 27% for Republicans. Voters with no party affiliation accounted for 24% of returned mail ballots.
Republicans topped Democrats in in-person early voting, 42% to 36%, across 10 states that detail in-person party registration data. Voters with no party affiliation accounted for 22% of Americans who voted early in-person.
The party breakdown means Biden likely has a lead in ballots cast nationally and in key battleground states heading into Election Day, but polling has shown Trump supporters are expected to outnumber Biden voters at the polls Tuesday.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison