WASHINGTON – As of Thursday, nearly 30 million Americans had cast ballots before Election Day, with 13 million choosing to vote in person at early voting locations and another 17 million submitting absentee ballots, according to data from the University of Florida Elections Lab.
Early voting totals are expected to boost significantly in the days leading up to Election Day on November 5.
Voters will decide whether Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris or Republican candidate Donald Trump will hold the Oval Office for the next four years. At the national level, they will also decide which political party will control the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate for the next two years.
Nonpartisan Crystal Ball Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Policy Center says the presidential race is still very winnable and rates battleground states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as risky.
According to them, several of these purple states have higher early voting rates than some of their counterparts data from the University of Florida’s election lab.
Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia received at least 1.2 million early votes, while California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas received at least 2 million early votes.
University of Florida data shows that among states that reveal partisan lines, Democrats cast almost 42% of the votes, Republicans 35% and other voters about 23%.
Control of the US House of Representatives in the air
Sabato’s crystal ball predicts that Republicans are at least slightly favored to win 212 seats in the House of Representatives, while Democrats have at least 209 seats in the chamber. A further 14 races have been classified as toss-ups, meaning control of the chamber is still undecided.
“Overall, our ratings show just 7 misses involving Republicans and 7 sweeps involving Democrats, for a total of 14,” managing editor Kyle Kondik and associate editor J. Miles Coleman written in the latest updatereleased on Thursday morning.
“Splitting the tickets down the middle would give the House a 219-216 Republican vote, so technically Republicans have a slight advantage in the rankings, but neither side is favored in the race for a House majority, even at this late stage,” they say. he wrote.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairwoman Suzan DelBene, D-Washington, told reporters Thursday that the organization is taking a number of voter protection actions to ensure Americans who want to vote can do so.
Those efforts won’t stop after polls close on Election Day, but will continue as absentee ballots are counted, she said during a virtual meeting with the Regional Reporters Association.
“So this is obviously a priority for us, and some of these races are very, very close together, so we want to make sure we’re there to help count votes across the country,” DelBene said.
Control of the chamber may not be announced on election night or for several days afterward. It took over a week after the 2022 midterm elections before The The Associated Press calls itself “control.” for the GOP.
The U.S. Senate leans toward the GOP
The Senate is leaning slightly toward Republican control, and GOP candidates are on track to take seats in West Virginia and Montana.
Sabato’s, however, moved Nebraska’s rating from “likely Republican” to “leaning” GOP “because the Republican cavalry had to step in to help” incumbent GOP Sen. Deb Fischer retain her seat against independent challenger Dan Osborn.
“Unlike Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL), the only two GOP seats in races we rate as anything other than Safe Republican, Fischer likely never had to run in a legally competitive statewide general election,” they wrote Kondik and Coleman.
Early in-person voting but also who is entitled to vote by correspondence is set by each state, which means when and where voters can cast an early ballot varies significantly.
All states are required to hold in-person voting on Election Day, scheduled for November 5. More information on voting can be found Here.
