As of Wednesday, October 22, more than 46 million people have voted in the 2020 general election according to the Unites States Elections Project.

Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at the University of Florida who specializes in American elections, manages the project.

McDonald, who tracks early voting numbers by the minute, said it’s possible that 85 million people could vote before Election Day and perhaps 150 million will vote in total. Additionally, ten times more mail ballots have been returned than at this point in 2016 and twice as many people have voted in-person.

Of the estimated 46 million votes cast nationwide, North Carolina alone claims 2,437,417 of them. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the state is made up of nearly 10.5 million residents.

Nationally, voters have cast 33.9 percent of the total votes counted in the 2016 general election during the 2020 early voting period thus far. In North Carolina specifically, around 51 percent of the total votes counted in 2016 have been cast.

In Orange County, 26,738 early votes have been cast after day seven of early voting – almost exactly the same number of votes cast by day seven in 2016. These numbers do not reflect the number of absentee or mail-in ballots counted, which have increased due to the pandemic.

It is reported that North Carolina has requested more than 1,409,012 mail-in ballots.

The U.S. Elections Project reports that 46,630 votes, or 41.8 percent of eligible votes, have been received in Orange County with the inclusion of mail-in ballots. The project also states that 47.3 percent of registered Chatham County residents have already voted.

By party affiliation in the state, 42.6 percent of those already voted are registered as Democrats, 28.4 are registered as Republicans and 28.6 have no party affiliation.

To read more of Chapelboro’s election coverage, or to find out where to vote in Chatham or Orange County, click here.

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