Official state and county reports viewed Oct. 20 show more than 2.6 million ballots back in Iowa, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania and Arizona’s Pima County, with registered Democrats ahead in returns and Republicans narrowly ahead in Florida’s early in-person vote.
Data as of Oct. 20, 2026, 11 AM ET (newest file: Pennsylvania). North Carolina, Florida and Pima County data run through Oct. 19; Iowa’s report prints no as-of time.
Early voting numbers released by state election offices show more than 2.6 million ballots returned across four states and Arizona’s Pima County two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The official counts total 2,658,183 ballots in North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania and Iowa, plus Pima County, Arizona, whose official return count is posted on the county’s website.
The figures below come from state and county election offices. They show the party registration of voters whose ballots have come back, not how anyone voted. A registered Democrat’s returned ballot is not a vote for a Democrat, and unaffiliated voters make up a large share in several states.
Florida: Republicans lead early in-person vote
The Florida Division of Elections reported 933,867 returned mail ballots through Oct. 19: 394,962 from registered Democrats (42.3%), 340,591 from registered Republicans (36.5%) and 198,314 from minor-party and no-party voters (21.2%).
Early in-person voting tells a different story. In the 34 of 67 counties that opened early voting before the statewide Oct. 24 start, registered Republicans cast 69,280 early in-person ballots to 68,650 for registered Democrats, a 630-vote edge, with 33,085 from other voters. Combined, Florida has 1,104,882 ballots back.
Large pools of mail ballots remain outstanding. The state lists 623,319 unreturned mail ballots held by registered Democrats and 484,327 held by registered Republicans. Lee and Collier counties lead the state in Republican mail-ballot margins, at 9,667 and 6,625.
North Carolina: 733,299 ballots accepted
The North Carolina State Board of Elections absentee file, posted at 5:19 a.m. Oct. 20 and covering ballots through Oct. 19, shows 733,299 accepted ballots from in-person early voting and mail combined. Registered Democrats account for 327,905 (44.7%), unaffiliated and minor-party voters for 253,449 (34.6%) and registered Republicans for 151,945 (20.7%).
In-person early voting, which began Oct. 15, makes up 689,133 of those ballots. Randolph, Davidson and Carteret counties post the largest Republican margins among returned ballots.
Pennsylvania: mail ballots only
Pennsylvania has no formal early in-person voting period, so its count is mail and absentee ballots. The Pennsylvania Department of State’s open-data file, updated at 11 a.m. Oct. 20, lists 636,484 returned ballots: 429,767 from registered Democrats (67.5%), 150,876 from registered Republicans (23.7%) and 55,841 from others (8.8%). That total includes 3,423 records marked pending or canceled. Ballots marked “vote recorded” number 633,061.
Iowa: 93,183 absentee ballots received
The Iowa Secretary of State’s daily absentee report shows 93,183 absentee ballots received in its latest report (viewed Oct. 20), which in Iowa includes in-person early votes. Registered Democrats returned 49,905 (53.6%), registered Republicans 27,393 (29.4%), and no-party and other voters 15,885 (17.0%). Voters had requested 238,486 absentee ballots. Early voting in Iowa began Oct. 14.
Arizona: one county reporting
Arizona has no official statewide daily early-ballot report for the general election. Pima County’s Recorder reported 90,335 early ballots returned of 488,351 sent through the end of Oct. 19, an 18.5% return rate, up from 53,095 a day earlier. Pima does not publish a party breakdown. Maricopa County’s official open-data layers still showed July primary data as of Oct. 20, though Recorder Justin Heap told FOX 10 on Oct. 19 that his office had received about 310,000 mail ballots. Of the other 13 county sites, four showed no general-election counts and nine could not be reached.
Analysis
The returns so far follow a familiar shape: registered Democrats lead in mail ballots in every state with a party split, while Florida’s in-person early vote is roughly even and tilted slightly toward registered Republicans. Florida still has 623,319 unreturned Democratic and 484,327 unreturned Republican mail ballots, and statewide early in-person voting begins Oct. 24, so a large share of both parties’ vote is still to come. Because party registration is not vote choice, and because unaffiliated and minor-party voters make up about 35% of North Carolina’s returns, these numbers measure turnout by group, not a lead in any race.
Politics Elections will update these figures as states post new files.
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