50.5 Million Early Votes Cast Ahead of 2026 Midterms

More than 50.5 million Americans had cast early ballots as of Saturday morning, according to an analysis by the University of Florida cited by The Guardian. That figure already tops the full early-vote count from the 2022 midterms by nearly 5 million, with three days left before polls close on Tuesday.

How many people have voted early so far?

The University of Florida's tracking puts the national early-vote total at more than 50.5 million as of Saturday, per the Guardian. The 2022 midterms, the most recent comparable election, drew nearly 5 million fewer early votes over the full early-voting window, meaning 2026 has already surpassed that cycle's total with days still to go.

Which party has turned out more voters so far?

In states that collect voter party registration data, 10.7 million registered Democrats have voted early, compared with 7.8 million registered Republicans, the Guardian reported. Party registration does not reveal how a ballot was actually cast, but the gap lines up with polling the Guardian cites showing "widespread unhappiness with the presidency of Donald Trump" and unusually competitive races in states Republicans typically win comfortably.

What's at stake in the Senate?

Republicans are defending a 53-47 Senate majority. The battleground map has widened this cycle, with Democrats trying to win in traditionally conservative-leaning states including Texas, Alaska and Kansas — a path that, if successful, could flip Senate control.

How does Texas compare with 2022?

More than 7 million Texans had voted early as of the Guardian's report, 1.5 million more than voted early in the state during the full 2022 midterm cycle. Texas is central to Democratic hopes of expanding the map beyond traditional battlegrounds.

What happened in Harris County?

In Harris County, home to Houston, 862,700 people had voted as of Wednesday, according to an Associated Press analysis cited by the Guardian — up from 564,500 at the same point in 2022. The county has voted Democratic in recent cycles by varying margins; Kamala Harris carried it by nearly 6 points in 2024, per the Guardian's report.

Early Voting by the Numbers

• 50.5 million+ early votes cast nationally as of Saturday, roughly 5 million more than the full 2022 early-vote total (University of Florida data via the Guardian)
• 10.7 million registered Democrats have voted early versus 7.8 million registered Republicans, in states that track party registration
• 7 million+ early votes in Texas, 1.5 million above the state's full 2022 early-vote count
• 862,700 early votes in Harris County as of Wednesday, versus 564,500 at the same point in 2022

None of these figures translate directly into Tuesday's outcome. Party-registration tallies show who voted, not how, and the early electorate in any cycle can skew differently than Election Day turnout. What the numbers do show, according to the Guardian's reporting, is a markedly larger and more Democratic-leaning early electorate than in 2022, in a cycle where Republicans are defending a narrow Senate majority across an expanded map.