With eight days to go before the Nov. 3 midterms, the national early-vote count reached 28 million on Sunday night. That figure came from the University of Florida Election Lab's 7:34 p.m. Eastern update, which counted 14.34 million mail ballots and 13.66 million in-person votes, according to Actual USA. The previous night's total was 27.15 million, so about 850,000 ballots were added in a single day. Earlier on Sunday, the lab reported that 59.4 million mail ballots had been requested and that just over half of early voters were 65 or older, The Epoch Times reported.

Comparisons with the last midterm show how far ahead the early vote is running. The Hill reported more than 23 million ballots earlier in the week, compared with about 15 million at the same point in 2022, according to a NewsCubby roundup. Citing a New York Times analysis, The Hill said early ballots were up about 69% in Kansas, 41% in Maine and 24% in Iowa.

This is the last week of early voting in several key states. Early voting in Georgia ends Friday, Oct. 30, after the state passed 1.75 million accepted ballots. That is 6.7% ahead of the same point in 2022. In 2022, the final five days brought in about a third of Georgia's early vote. North Carolina, which had about 1.51 million voters by Sunday, ends early voting Saturday, Oct. 31. Florida's required early-voting period runs through Oct. 31, with some counties also open Sunday, Nov. 1. Texas had banked more than 4.25 million early votes, about 22% of its registered voters.

These numbers have limits. Party-registration splits in early ballots are not votes, and Republicans have shifted toward voting on Election Day in recent cycles. MIT political scientist Charles Stewart told NPR that many early voters would have voted anyway. He said the surge reflects both enthusiasm and heavy campaign spending on door-to-door outreach. Trackers also differ by a million ballots or so because states report on different schedules.

For field operations, the calendar matters more than the totals. Once early voting closes in a state, the remaining outreach shifts to mail ballots still outstanding and to Election Day turnout.

Why it matters

Early voting closes this week in Georgia, North Carolina and Florida, and tens of millions of requested mail ballots have not been returned yet. These deadlines decide how voter contact is timed in the last stretch. The early-vote numbers show who has voted, but they do not show how anyone voted or what final turnout will be.

Sources

• Actual USA, "28 million have already voted and Texas is now tied: what early voting says — and doesn't say — 8 days before November 3" (Oct. 26, 2026)
• The Epoch Times, "More Than 27 Million People Have Voted in Midterms So Far, Figures Show" (Oct. 25, 2026)
• NewsCubby, "Early voting numbers 2026: How many have already voted, and where" (Oct. 25, 2026)
• NPR, "Why surging early voting may not mean higher midterm turnout" (Oct. 23, 2026)
• University of Florida Election Lab, 2026 Early Voting tracker

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