Voter turnout in the presidential elections has passed levels recorded in 2016 in Texas and Colorado, according to state election officials.
The high turnout numbers include voters who cast ballots in person on Tuesday as well as mail-in ballots already received.
As of 10 a.m., turnout in Colorado hit “76.6 percent of active registered voters, so that is really high,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in comments reported by CNN. “It’s very exciting.”
Around 930,000 registered Democrats, 833,000 Republicans, and 1,000,000 unaffiliated voters have cast ballots so far, Griswold said. The secretary of state also reported that in-person voting was proceeding smoothly, with almost no security issues or major disinformation campaigns.
Meanwhile, voter turnout in Texas already exceeded 2016 levels, or about 9,000,000 voters. In Harris County, home to the city of Houston, over 60 percent of registered voters cast their ballots by 2:30 p.m.
It is unclear how the surge in voter turnout in much of the U.S. will affect the election outcome. Democrats retain an advantage among voters who have already cast ballots by mail, while Republicans lead among likely voters who planned to cast ballots in person.
Much of turnout this year is driven by record levels of early voting, both by mail and in person. Americans have turned to mail-in voting in record numbers because of concerns stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
It is also doubtful whether the results of the elections will be known on Tuesday night, in part because of the need to count mail-in ballots. Officials in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have confirmed it will take days to tally many of the ballots received by election day.