Midterm elections early voting begins
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Early voting for the Nov. 3 midterms began this week in Texas, Florida, Arkansas and Louisiana.
More than half of US voters now cast ballots before Election Day.
Background
The midterms are held in the middle of each four-year presidential term and by definition do not involve the president. Democrats need a net gain of four seats, while holding their current ones, to retake the majority in the Senate, and Georgia is one of the seats they need to defend. Early voting is now the norm: more than half of all voters cast their ballots ahead of Election Day, usually in person at a polling location or by mail, according to The New York Times. Each state sets its own early-voting rules, and those rules can change from election to election.
How it unfolded
- Oct 14, 2026Early in-person voting began in Iowa.
- Oct 15, 2026North Carolina began early in-person voting; it was the first state to send mail-in ballots to voters.
- Oct 19, 2026Early voting began in Texas and runs through Friday, Oct. 30. It also opened in several Florida counties, in Arkansas for two weeks, and Reuters reported early voting had been underway for weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.
- Oct 20, 2026Early voting began in Louisiana, lasting until Tuesday, Oct. 27, and polls opened in North Texas.
- Oct 23, 2026Last day to apply for a ballot by mail in Texas.
- Oct 24, 2026Statewide early in-person voting begins in Michigan.
- Nov 3, 2026Election Day; in Texas polling locations open 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., and voters in line by 7 p.m. may vote.
Who’s saying what
- Analysts
- The New York Times says there are limits to what early voting can tell us, because each state has its own rules and those rules can change from election to election.
- Analysts
- The New York Times cautions that early voting patterns can be unpredictable, that comparisons between cycles can be unwise, and that 2022 and 2024 are useful but imperfect comparisons for 2026 data.
Still unverified
The New York Times states that votes in a party primary, like party registration, can be a poor predictor of the final result, and that early voting patterns can be unpredictable, as recent elections in Georgia have demonstrated.