Voters have been casting ballots for more than five weeks, and the turnout is breaking Virginia records.
The number of early votes cast so far in this election is almost double the number of early votes at this point in the last midterm election. That's according to numbers from the Department of Elections posted to the Virginia Public Access Project. Karen Hult at Virginia Tech says the numbers are revealing pockets of interest.
"They are matching what we thought in general about what the more competitive districts might be," Hult says. "And we forget about those three constitutional amendments. But I do think what early voting does tell us is where voters, where people may be mobilized to turn out to vote. What it can't tell us, of course, is which way they vote."
David Ramadan at George Mason University cautions that people should not read too much into the record-breaking early turnout.
"They're telling us that there's quite a bit of excitement on the Democratic side," Ramadan says. "That said, they're not indicative of the results. In most of the cases, the early numbers are voters who intended to vote anyways."
Halloween is the last day to cast an early ballot. Voting ends at 7 pm on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3rd.
