Democrats Gain Early Voting Edge in 30 States as 700,000 Americans Cast Ballots
Updated
Updated · CNN · Oct 1
Democrats Gain Early Voting Edge in 30 States as 700,000 Americans Cast Ballots
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Oct 1
Summary
More than 700,000 voters have already cast ballots across at least 30 states, with early returns showing Democrats making up a larger share of ballot requests than at this point in 2024 in several key races.
Iowa shows the sharpest shift: Democrats account for 67% of ballot requests, up from 54% in 2024; Pennsylvania is at 66% from 62%, Maine 57% from 53%, and North Carolina 42% from 36%.
Virginia offers the clearest turnout signal so far, with heavily Democratic localities running at 78% of their 2024 early-vote pace versus 61% in strongly Trump areas; statewide, Democratic primary voters lead Republicans by 18 points, up from 8.
The pattern fits polling, special elections and primary turnout that have pointed to stronger Democratic motivation, though it may also reflect Republicans continuing to favor later or different voting methods.
Early-vote data remains limited: it mostly captures mail ballots, skews older voters, and cannot show how ballots were cast; voters 65 and older made up 37% of mail voters in 2024, up from 27% in 2020.