Millions of Ballots Already Cast

Today, Americans will cast their ballots at thousands of polling places all across the country. Millions of their neighbors have already cast their ballots via mail or at an early voting location.

In 2008, 30 percent of the electorate cast ballots before Election Day. Estimates put this year’s number near 35 percent.

As of yesterday morning, more than 30 million ballots have already been cast, a number that will grow as more states finalize and report data after the election.

In states like Georgia and North Carolina, the vast majority of these ballots come from in-person early voting, where voters have shown up at a specified location to cast a ballot on a voting machine before Election Day. Other states, like California and Ohio, see a larger share of votes cast before Election Day via absentee ballots.

And of course military and overseas voters, who were first sent ballots in September, have also returned thousands of ballots to their home states.