Early Voting Is Shattering Records in the Final Week Before the Midterms

With one week to go until Election Day on November 3, early voting in the 2026 midterms is running far ahead of the last midterm cycle in state after state — and election officials say the surge is still building.

South Carolina has already passed a milestone. Nearly 564,000 people had voted early as of 3 p.m. on Monday, October 26, according to the South Carolina State Election Commission, surpassing the roughly 562,000 who voted early during the entire 2022 midterm election. Early voting in the state began on October 19 and runs through Saturday, October 31, with voting centers open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Virginia is seeing a similar jump. The number of early votes cast so far is almost double the number cast at the same point in the last midterm election, according to figures from the Virginia Department of Elections published by the Virginia Public Access Project. Voters there have been casting ballots for more than five weeks, and Halloween is the last day to vote early in the state.

Texas enters its final week

Texas entered the final week of early in-person voting on Monday, with early voting running through Friday, October 30. The push comes as state officials clarify the rules for the roughly 1.8 million Texans flagged on the state’s voter suspense list.

A voter lands on the suspense list when a local registrar has reason to believe their address has changed — for example, when a voter registration certificate or jury summons comes back undeliverable. Flagged voters who have not moved can still vote by signing a Statement of Residence at their polling place.

“There are still options for you to cast a ballot in the election. Your registration still counts,” Alicia Pierce, a spokesperson for the Texas Secretary of State’s office, said.

Turnout in the state’s biggest county is already setting records. In Harris County, first-day early voting on October 19 drew more than 104,600 in-person voters, a midterm record for the county, alongside 24,794 mail-in ballots received by that day. Harris County polling sites are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through October 30, and registered voters in the county may cast a ballot at any county polling station.

What the surge does — and does not — tell us

Analysts caution against reading too much into the raw numbers. Early-vote totals show where voters are mobilized, but not which way they are voting. Karen Hult of Virginia Tech said the figures are “revealing pockets of interest,” while David Ramadan of George Mason University noted that early numbers largely reflect “voters who intended to vote anyways.”

Still, the pattern is consistent: in competitive states, voters are not waiting for Election Day. President Donald Trump has taken his campaign blitz to Texas in the final week, and a new NPR poll shows Democrats with an advantage heading into Election Day, according to NPR’s morning brief.

With several days of early voting left in most states, the 2022 comparisons are likely to keep falling before polls close on November 3.

Sources: South Carolina State Election Commission figures reported by Greenville News (Oct. 27, 2026); Virginia Department of Elections figures reported by WHRO (Oct. 27, 2026); Texas Secretary of State’s office and Harris County figures reported Oct. 26–27, 2026; NPR morning news brief (Oct. 27, 2026).