Seventy million Americans have already voted in the U.S. presidential election with six days to go before Election Day Nov. 3.
This number represents 51% of the 136 million Americans that voted in the general election of November 2016, which saw Donald Trump win. Many states allowing early inperson voting will end the process this week although some like Illinois, Indiana and Arkansas will end the vote Nov. 2.
The U.S. Elections Project said this record tally will likely lead to the highest voter turnout in percentage terms in more than a century.
Michael McDonald, the University of Florida professor who administers the U.S. Elections Project, predicts a record U.S. voter turnout of 150 million. This represents 65% of those eligible to vote, which is the highest since 1908.
The mail-in and inperson voting rise this year confirms the supercharged interest among voters in the election dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 8.7 million cases and 225,000 deaths in the U.S. owing to COVID-19 as of Wednesday.
Political pundits concur the Democrats have a large advantage in early voting as a result of their propensity for mail-in voting. Democrats hold a two-to-one advantage in early voting numbers.
Democrats lead Republicans in mail-in voting in states reporting party data. Of the more than 26 million returned mail ballots tracked by the U.S. Elections Project, registered Democrats account for 51.3%, compared with 25.5% from Republicans.
On the other hand, Republicans have historically mostly voted on Election Day. Republican Party voters have surpassed Democrats in ballots cast in person. Of the 7.4 million inperson votes with party affiliation reported, Republicans lead with 41.7% compared with 36.9% for Democrats.
The Republican habit of inperson voting, however, will likely disadvantage Trump owing to the rise in COVID-19 cases nationwide starting last week.
The U.S. is now averaging some 70,000 cases a day and the toll is expected to increase during election week. A rise in new cases, which some health experts predict will exceed 100,000 daily by November, might prevent Republicans from voting in person Nov. 3 to avoid infection.
Voters have already cast far more early votes during this election than they did in all of 2016 when they passed the 47 million mark earlier this month.
