Early Voting Surges in Central Florida Battleground States

More than 43 million Americans had voted early or returned mail ballots five days before the 2026 midterm election, according to an Associated Press analysis of voting data.

This figure represents nearly 10 million more voters than at the same point in the 2022 midterm cycle. The data covers 47 states and Washington, D.C., a slightly smaller scope than the 48 states and the capital included in the four-year-ago comparison.

The surge in advance voting is most noticeable in states hosting competitive Senate races. In Texas, more than 6.3 million voters had cast ballots as of Wednesday, a 50 percent increase over the 4.2 million who voted early at the same time in 2022. Texas voters are deciding closely watched contests for the Senate, the House, and the governor’s office.

Sharp increases have also been recorded in Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, and Kansas, where advance voting is up more than 30 percent compared to the same period four years ago. In South Carolina, where voters are selecting a successor to the late Senator Lindsey Graham, early voting has jumped by 83 percent.

Among states that provide information on party affiliation, about 6.8 million Democrats and 5.2 million Republicans have cast ballots early. These numbers do not account for all early voters nationwide and do not indicate which specific candidates received their votes.

President Donald Trump canceled weekend rallies in Iowa and Kansas on Thursday. He opted instead to support Republican candidates with telerallies that his party said could reach more voters in nearly two dozen states. The Republican National Committee stated that the move maximizes the president’s ability to speak to voters nationwide during the final days of the election.

In a related development in South Carolina, Senator Tim Scott said he expects more information from the Department of Justice regarding the Alaska Senate controversy. Scott, who chairs Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, said Attorney General Todd Blanche is acting expeditiously to probe allegations that the campaign of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola was involved in recruiting another candidate with the same name as the Republican incumbent.

Peltola denied on Thursday that she knew anything about the efforts to stack the ballot. She described the situation as a distraction, stating that Republicans are trying to intimidate her into backing down because they cannot win on their record. Scott said he has no doubt that Senator Darline Graham will win in South Carolina, though he noted that some constituents of Representative Ralph Norman are disappointed by the congressman’s lack of active campaigning for Graham.

The Justice Department has also escalated its criminal investigation of voting in California with new grand jury subpoenas. Two legal filings submitted overnight seek to stop the department’s intervention. One group, including the League of Women Voters, asked for a temporary restraining order against the administration’s collection and analysis of state voter data. Another coalition filed a lawsuit alleging that federal threats to election workers risk interfering with the lawful administration of the elections and the counting of ballots.

Both filings asked federal judges to stop the Justice Department from demanding that election workers remove voters or segregate ballots. They also sought to prevent the department from threatening election workers with prosecution for counting ballots that the administration alleges were sent to noncitizens.