Early voting was way up in some Trump states
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President Trump won four of the six states where early voting in 2018 increased by 200% from the 2014 midterm elections.
Why it matters: It means voters in those red states — Georgia, Oklahoma, Indiana and Utah — are energized and highly motivated to vote in 2020. That's something Democratic presidential candidates will have to factor into their plans, because these voters are likely to be even more motivated when Trump is actually on the ballot.
Between the lines: Midterm elections always have low voter turnout. But 2018 showed some of the conditions that can make midterms exciting again: a record number of women and diverse candidates running for office; the president's heightened involvement in races and presence on the campaign trail; and a nationalized election.
By the numbers: As the chart above shows, 30 states exceeded their 2014 early vote totals, and many of them reached numbers three and four times what we saw in the last midterm cycle.
- Over 35 million people voted early in the 2018 midterm elections, which was a 176% increase from those who voted early in 2014, according to research by TargetSmart, a political data firm.
Correction: This post has been corrected to remove a reference to early voting in Missouri, which doesn't allow standard early voting, but does allow absentee voting before Election Day with a valid excuse.
