US Midterms: Early Voting Reaches Record-Breaking Numbers

More voters in the United States are casting their ballots early in this year’s midterm elections than in previous years.

RELATED: Native Americans Unyielding Battle Against Voter Suppression

Tens of millions of people have submitted their votes early around the nation. There are still days to go before the official election, scheduled for Nov. 6.

Up to 28 million votes have been cast since the early-voting process began in September.

Still, some issues have arisen, including ballots flipping to the other party and a lack of polling places near Prairie View A&M University, a historically black university in Texas, VOA reports. Other issues include rejected voter registrations and confusion among election workers, according to the Associated Press.

“Given the state that the country is in right now, there are very few people who don’t know that there is an election coming and that it matters,” Kat Calvin, founder of the non-profit Spread the Vote, told the New York Times. “People on both sides are really fired up.”

In response to a wave of deadly school shootings and no definitive sign of gun control legislation, young American activists vowed to get their peers to the polls in droves, Reuters says.

Party lines are divided greatly by generational gaps. Senior citizens are far more likely to vote Republican than younger voters.

However, that alone does not promise a shift in power. Though people have voted early, there is no indication of how they voted.

Both Democrats and Republicans indicated increased enthusiasm since the spring, with 54 percent of Democrats intending to vote in the midterms and 43 percent of Republicans planning to do so, Reuters reports.

In 18 states, the numbers have surpassed their early voting numbers from the last midterm election in 2014, including Georgia and Texas which have two hotly contested races.

In both those states, early and absentee voting from people under 30 has increased by over 400 percent, according to TargetSmart, a Democratic data firm tracking early voting nationwide.

Four other states are close to reaching their early voting records from 2014, including North Dakota where Native Americans are fighting back against voter I.D. laws which have left them disenfranchised.

In the U.S. 37 of 50 states allow some form of early-voting, be it by absentee ballot or in-person.

Elections will take place Tuesday.