WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – With less than a dozen days left until Election Day, many Americans across the country have already cast their votes thanks to early voting.
“Voters like the convenience of voting early,” University of Florida Political Science Professor Michael McDonald said.
So far, more than 20 million voters have cast their ballots. McDonald says more voters are taking advantage of it.
“State after state once they adopt some form of early voting, you’ll start seeing the numbers creep up from election cycle to election cycle,” McDonald said.
McDonald says the big difference this year is Republican voters.
“It appears Republicans have embraced in-person early voting, and passed the Democrats are the ones who tend to vote in large numbers,” McDonald said.
With Republican officials urging supporters to embrace early voting, some states like North Carolina, are seeing record turn out.
“We will likely see a significant majority, if not two thirds of all the ballots cast this year come before election day,” Catawba College Political Scientist Dr. Michale Bitzer said.
Dr. Bitzer says early voting is appealing for, “folks who know who they’re voting for up and down the ballot want to go ahead and bank their ballot, be done with the election.”
Bitzer says the early voting numbers have skewed to older voters and it keeps both campaigns on their toes.
“It is really a fascinating dynamic for the campaigns themselves to have to deal with. Some of my voters have already banked their ballots, who do I focus on next?,” Bitzer said.
