Nearly 50% Voted Early in 2022 Midterms

An increasing number of voters are casting ballots before Election Day, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The bureau’s Current Population Survey found 47.1% of voters cast their ballots before Election Day in the 2022 midterms, up nearly 10 percentage points from the 37.8% that voted before Election Day in 2018.

Overall, the bureau reported voter turnout for the 2022 midterms was the second-highest for a midterm election in more than 20 years, with 52.2% of the citizen voting-age population participating. And registration rates were the highest for a midterm election in more than 20 years, with 69.1% of the voting-age population registered to vote, up 2.2 percentage points from 2018 (66.9%).

The survey found 31.8% of all voters cast ballots by mail, up from 23.1% in 2018. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Census Bureau reported 43% of voters cast ballots by mail and 26% voted in person before Election Day. In 2016, just 21% mailed in their ballots and 19% voted in person before Election Day.

The most common reason reported for not voting in 2022 was, “Too busy, conflicting work or school schedule” (26.5%). But more registered nonvoters said they “forgot to vote” in 2022, up 2.2 percentage points from 2018.

Turnout was higher among married (61.2%) than unmarried (42.5%) citizens, and among veterans (62.7%) than nonveterans (51.3%). The South had the nation’s lowest voter turnout (48.9%), but there was not much difference between turnout in the West (54.7%), Midwest (54.1%) and Northeast (53.8%).