More than 15 million people have voted already in the 2022 midterms, smashing records from previous midterm years with 12 days until Election Day.
In battleground states with hot Senate races — Georgia and Pennsylvania in particular — the story of high turnout is the same.
Georgia has seen historic turnout at a record pace in early in-person voting this year with early voting on day one nearing turnout levels in the 2020 presidential election, a year of exceptionally high early voting turnout.
Though less turnout is typically the norm in non-presidential election years, 1.02 million early votes have already been cast in the Peach State, according to the nonpartisan United States Election Project.
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Early voting in the 2022 midterm elections has reached historic highs in states with key Senate races.
(Chip Somodevilla)
Early in-person votes cast tallied up to 1.17 million on Oct. 26, 2020, while on the same day in the 2018 midterm election cycle there were 634,000 early in-person votes cast — nearly half of what Georgia is currently seeing in this year’s midterms.
In Pennsylvania, where Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz are battling neck and neck in a race that is one of several nationwide that could determine control of the Senate, there have been 683,000 early votes recorded with overwhelming representation from Democrat voters.
After a brutal debate night for Fetterman on Tuesday, in which the effects from the stroke he suffered in May was evident in his difficulty forming comprehensible sentences, voter turnout is starkly on the side of Democrats, who have cast 73% of early votes so far, according to TargetSmart early voting analysis.
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Former President Barack Obama shakes hands with a poll worker before casting his ballot at an early voting site on Oct. 17, 2022, in Chicago.
(Charles Rex Arbogast)
Voters in the Keystone State will have until next Tuesday, Nov. 1, to cast early votes prior to Election Day when Republican turnout is historically much stronger.
Despite the influx in early voting, don’t expect a final answer on which party will take control of Congress on election night. With more ballots cast early, particularly in key battleground states, officials in some states are warning that the official vote count in some races will take extra time to complete, potentially delaying results for days.
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In more than 30 states, absentee ballots won’t be counted until Election Day, in some cases only after polls close.
Fox News’ Stephen Goin contributed to this report.
