Early voting figures in the swing state of Michigan showed strong activity within Democratic strongholds, giving Vice President Kamala Harris a much-needed firewall.
Urban areas like Detroit, as well as northwestern coastal areas like Traverse City, are leading the way in early ballot returns, and with the demographics in these areas leaning heavily Democratic, the party is building up a backlog of votes that could make the difference in November.
According to Michigan’s voter participation dashboard, 11.9 percent of voters who are eligible for early voting, via postal ballot, have already voted, meaning more than 850,000 votes have already been cast in the swing state. Michigan issued 2,158,994 postal ballots for the 2024 election, down from over 3 million ballots issued in 2020. This change has been attributed to COVID-19 during the 2020 election, as many people have returned to in-person voting.
Some 55 percent of mail-in ballots were sent to registered Democrats, while only 35 percent went to Republicans. A further 10 percent went to voters registered with another or no political party.
Wayne County, which includes Detroit, is leading the way in returning postal ballots, with 145,000 of its 347,500 requested ballots already being returned. The city has long been a Democratic stronghold, and was central to Biden’s win in Michigan in the last election.
Genesee County, home to the city of Flint, has also published impressive numbers so far, with 38,345 ballots returned from the 83,600 requested by voters.
Nationwide, there are more signs that Democrats continue to outpace Republicans when it comes to early voting. TargetSmart analysis published on Wednesday found that 3,845,372 registered Democrats had voted so far, compared with only 2,550,036 Republicans and 634,091 unaffiliated voters.
At the same stage for the 2020 election, the same company estimated that 10,597,657 registered Democrats had cast their ballots, along with 7,007,791 registered Republicans and 2,178,977 voters without party affiliation.
Democrats have been more reliant on postal ballots since 2020, after increasing negative rhetoric surrounding voting by mail within the Republican party popularized by former President Donald Trump.
Early in-person voting for Michigan begins on “the second Saturday prior to election day and ends the Sunday before an election.”
For the 2024 election, this means voters can cast their ballot in person starting from October 26. Several swing states have already started their early in-person voting, such as Georgia, which began on October 15.
