Nearly 85 million Americans vote early in 2024 election

Nearly 85 million Americans voted early in the 2024 U.S. election, a drop from 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic caused a surge in voting by mail, according to data from state officials. The final figures could be slightly higher.

According to the latest data, at least 84.7 million Americans had cast their vote ahead of Tuesday’s election, according to figures from the University of Florida’s Election Lab. About 80% voted by mail, the other 20% in person.

Those figures represent about half of all votes cast in the 2020 election, which took place in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 101 million people across the U.S. voted early or by mail that year.

In states where party registration is made public, about 38% of early votes this year came from registered Democrats, while 36% came from Republicans. The remaining 26% were either not registered with a political party or they were affiliated with a minor party.

For the nearly 18 million votes for which the gender is known, the majority (54%) were from women. Abortion is one of the main topics this year with multiple states voting on the issues and Vice President Kamala Harris could become the first female president in U.S. history.

Tuesday is Election Day. Aside from the presidential election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, voters will also elect all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 34 U.S. Senators. Other votes include those on state issues, governors, and local offices.