An increasing number of voters are casting ballots before Election Day, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The bureau's Current Population Survey found 47.1% of voters cast their ballots before Election Day in the 2022 midterms, up nearly 10 percentage points from the 37.8% that voted before Election Day in 2018.
Overall, the bureau reported voter turnout for the 2022 midterms was the second-highest for a midterm election in more than 20 years, with 52.2% of the citizen voting-age population participating. And registration rates were the highest for a midterm election in more than 20 years, with 69.1% of the voting-age population registered to vote, up 2.2 percentage points from 2018 (66.9%).
The survey found 31.8% of all voters cast ballots by mail, up from 23.1% in 2018. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Census Bureau reported 43% of voters cast ballots by mail and 26% voted in person before Election Day. In 2016, just 21% mailed in their ballots and 19% voted in person before Election Day.
The most common reason reported for not voting in 2022 was, "Too busy, conflicting work or school schedule" (26.5%). But more registered nonvoters said they "forgot to vote" in 2022, up 2.2 percentage points from 2018.
Turnout was higher among married (61.2%) than unmarried (42.5%) citizens, and among veterans (62.7%) than nonveterans (51.3%). The South had the nation's lowest voter turnout (48.9%), but there was not much difference between turnout in the West (54.7%), Midwest (54.1%) and Northeast (53.8%).