Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press.
Early voting continues at a record pace with more than 11 million votes cast; four years ago, just 1.4 million voters were registered at the same time before the election, according to the U.S. Elections Project.
For University of Florida professor and project manager Michael McDonald, the pace of voting is remarkable with five states already reaching 20% or more than their vote totals over 2016 ballots - Minnesota, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The historic increase in early voting is due to a greater availability of choices, as well as increased voter demand, coupled with the fact that some states that have received mail-in ballots are also beginning in-person early voting.
For example, McDonald says, in North Carolina, in-person early voting begins Thursday, Oct. 15. The state has a form of in-person early voting called "One Stop" voting, which is available during the in-person early voting period and will no longer be available on Election Day, Nov. 3.
In the balloting four years ago, 100,368 eligible people registered and voted this way, many of them first-time voters and younger, so there is still plenty of evidence that it will be a high turnout election.
For example, 2018 had the highest turnout rate for a midterm election since 1914 and turnout has been high in other special elections and statewide elections since Trump took office.
Pollsters are also recording unusually high levels of interest and self-reported voting intentions, and there is record small donor activity.
For example, University of Florida professor Jamie Harrison, D-South Carolina, recently announced a record fundraising quarter for U.S. Senate races.
And while he questions whether early voting and overall turnout will decline as Election Day approaches and we see a typical turnout election, he still expects to see early voting pick up as it normally does as Election Day approaches.
Some of this is due to the unknown number of people who will vote early as some will be from voters who have not yet returned their mail-in ballots, particularly younger voters.
