More than 50 million votes cast in US midterm elections: What does it mean?

Early voting has surged in the 2026 United States midterm elections with more than 50 million Americans casting their ballots as of Sunday, according to an analysis by the University of Florida. Most of the 50 states allow early in-person voting while all of them allow mail-in voting. About 23 million people voted through mail-in ballots, which President Donald Trump unsuccessfully tried to curb before the elections.

With two days left to go before Election Day on Tuesday, support for Democrats was 51.5 percent and for Republicans 43.1 percent, the latest national polls suggested. The president’s tariff policy and his decision to launch a war with Israel on Iran are hurting his Republican Party. Both have been blamed for contributing to a cost-of-living crisis.

Why are so many Americans voting early? Early voting gives US citizens a chance to cast their ballots before Election Day. According to the US government, people may vote early in person in most states by visiting designated polling stations.

All states offer vote-by-mail options, in which registered voters may receive and return ballots by Election Day by mail. The number of states offering options to vote in person before November expanded from 24 in 2000 to 47 in 2026, plus Washington, DC. But early-voting periods, eligibility requirements and procedures vary widely by state.

This year, out of about 210 million registered voters, 53.14 million had voted early as of 6:56am East Coast time ( ) on Sunday , according to the University of Florida analysis. This includes 29 million in-person votes and 23 million mail-in ballots. In the 2022 midterm elections, 46 million people had voted early.

Early voting enthusiasm has been higher among Democrats this year with more than 11 million registered Democrats having voted early, compared with about 8 million registered Republicans, according to the university’s analysis. Early voting has particularly surged in the state of Texas, a key battleground, where more than 7 million people have already voted early. This is over 1.5 million more than voted early in the 2022 midterms, according to the University of Florida analysis.