In Texas, with a week still to go before Election Day, more than 7 million people have already voted in the 2020 presidential election, exceeding the entire number of early votes cast in 2016. Based on those numbers, some analysts have predicted that the total Texas turnout could surpass 12 million voters this year, roughly 3 million more than in 2016.
In Georgia, 2.7 million voters have cast their ballot so far—double the total number cast in 2016—a record turnout reportedly driven by a huge increase in Black voters. In Florida, on the first day of early voting, 366,436 Floridians went to the polls, beating the number recorded four years earlier by more than 70,000 votes. In Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson estimates that two-thirds of her state’s voters will cast their ballots before Election Day. And in New York, where advance voting is being offered for the first time in state history, some voters stood on line for five hours or more over the weekend, saving spots and sharing pizzas.
Overall, more than 62 million Americans have already cast their ballot in the 2020 presidential race, easily breaking the record set four years ago, with some election observers predicting that the final tally could reach a historic 100 million votes. In 2016, the total number of votes cast, both in advance and on Election Day, was 133 million.
As President Trump continues to sow unfounded fears about mail-in ballots, and as the coronavirus has forced states from Alaska to Wisconsin to offer advance in-person voting to avoid polling stations being overwhelmed on Nov. 3 and creating a social-distancing nightmare, millions of people are casting their votes in ways they never have before and in numbers that are without precedent. The astronaut Kate Rubins even managed to vote from space:
In some crucial battleground states like North Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona, the advance vote already exceeds the total number of votes cast for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton in November of 2016.