Iowa early voting surges

By the numbers: Iowa county auditors had received 307,080 absentee ballots as of Tuesday morning, including ballots cast early in person.

• At the same point — seven days before Election Day — in 2022, 238,939 ballots had been received.

State of play: Of the early ballots received this year, about 49% came from registered Democrats (151,842), 32% from Republicans (99,628) and 18% from no-party voters (54,610).

• Those figures reflect party registration, not which candidates received votes.

Flashback: Democrats account for a smaller share of early ballots than in 2022, while no-party voters represent a larger share.

• At the same point four years ago, Democrats accounted for 54% of ballots received, Republicans 32% and no-party voters 14%.

Zoom in: Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald has reported unusually busy early voting, with the main election office topping 1,500 voters on multiple days and satellite voting already breaking the county's 2022 midterm record.

• As of Tuesday morning, about 53,500 ballots had been received.

The big picture: Iowa is part of a broader surge in early voting this midterm election.

• More than 12.6 million Americans had voted by Oct. 20, with several competitive states reporting strong participation.

What's next: Polk County's satellite voting concluded Saturday, but voters can continue casting early ballots at the county election office — 2309 Euclid Ave. in DSM — through Nov. 2.

• Election Day is Nov. 3.

Worthy of your time: Polk's sample ballots