Nearly half of voters in the 2022 midterms reported voting early or by mail.
Early and absentee voting rose from 40% of voters in the 2018 midterms to 69% for the 2020 presidential elections, held during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, some states expanded infrastructure for early in-person and mail-in voting.
In 2022, 31.8% voted by mail, 18.0% voted early, and 49.5% went to the polls on Election Day.
2020 is the only presidential election year with available Census data on nontraditional voting. Limited data can make it difficult to identify trends.
Where do people vote early and by mail most?
Voting by mail has been common practice in the Western US since before the pandemic — in 2018, 65.2% of voters in the region did so remotely (data is only available regionally through the Census Bureau). That figure rose to 79.1% in 2020 and then ticked down to 77.9% in 2022.
In other regions, it has increased in popularity since COVID-19 but is still less prevalent: 20.6% of Midwest voters, 20.0% of Northeast voters, and 13.5% of voters in the South cast mail-in ballots in 2022.
The South leads all regions in early voting, with over a third of voters beating Election Day crowds in 2022. The Midwest was next at 12.9%.
After a swell of remote voting in 2020, most Northeasterners (72.1%) returned to voting in person on Election Day in 2022.
Who votes early and by mail the most?
Mail-in and early voting rates in 2022 varied across age, race, and nativity. Trends included:
- The oldest group of voters, those 65 and older, voted by mail and early at the highest rates.
- Asian and Hispanic voters cast the highest rate of mail-in ballots, while Black voters had the highest early voting rate.
- Naturalized citizens voted by mail at nearly 10 percentage points higher than native-born citizens.
For more information on how Americans vote, read about swing states and non-swing states. Get the data directly in your inbox by signing up for our newsletter.
