Historic 82M Early Votes Cast as Election Day Begins

A massive wave of early voting has swept across the United States, with over 82 million Americans casting their ballots before Election Day, representing more than half of 2020's total presidential election turnout, according to The Associated Press. Audrey Richardson and Ryan Garza/USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The University of Florida's Election Lab reports a significant split between voting methods, with over 44 million in-person early votes and 37 million returned mail ballots.

The data also indicates that more than 67 million mail ballots were requested overall. Barbara J. Perenic/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Several battleground states have witnessed unprecedented early voting participation.

In North Carolina, officials reported a historic turnout with more than 4.2 million early in-person votes, surpassing the previous record of 3.6 million set in 2020. Seth Harrison/USA TODAY Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When including absentee ballots, nearly 4.5 million votes were cast, representing approximately 57 percent of registered voters in the state. Mandi Wright / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Georgia also marked a significant milestone, with elections official Gabriel Sterling noting that the first day of early voting saw "123% higher than the old record," with over 300,000 ballots cast. Josh Morgan / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The race remains extremely close, as evidenced by The Hill/Decision Desk HQ national polling aggregate showing Vice President Harris and former President Trump deadlocked at 48.4% each. David Rodriguez Munoz and Mandi Wright / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images