Democrats Lead Among Early Voters

Roughly 21 million Americans have already cast their ballot for the presidential election, and early estimates project a stronger turnout among registered Democrats.

As of Oct. 30, early voting in key battleground states have largely signaled turnout favorable to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. While early votes will not be counted until the Nov. 8 election, voter registration of early ballots indicate an advantage for Democrats, The New York Times reports.

While registered Republicans have so far cast more ballots than Democrats in the decisive state of Florida by less than a percentage point, that edge is still smaller than it was during this time in 2012, when President Barack Obama proceeded win the Sunshine State anyway.

Republicans’ lead in Florida has also been evaporating as in-person early voting has started, with Hispanic voters surging at the polls.

“Hispanics are outperforming said political science professor Daniel A. Smith of the University of Florida. “They are more engaged in this election cycle, and most are voting earlier than we saw in 2012.:

In North Carolina, another key state that could help decide the election, 43 percent of early have been registered Democrats while only 31 percent of been registered Republicans.

Early estimates find that 56 percent of early voters in North Carolina have been women, a demographic that largely favors Clinton, and that rural voters are not turning out as forcefully as they did in 2012.

Meanwhile, turnout among black voters in North Carolina is down by 17 percent when compared to 2012, which could prove problematic for the Clinton campaign.

In Colorado, 39 percent of early voters have been registered Democrats while 35 percent have been registered Republicans.Meanwhile, in Nevada Democrats were turning out for early voting more than Republicans by seven percentage points.

While millions of voters have already had their say on the November election, the presidential race took a dramatic turn on Oct. 28 when FBI Director James Comey publicly disclosed to lawmakers that his bureau had discovered emails on former congressman Anthony Weiner’s laptop that could potentially be related to their investigation into Clinton’s use of a private server.

There is no way to determine whether or not the freshly discovered emails have anything to do with Clinton, but the FBI’s public announcement has caused headaches for the Democratic nominee less than two weeks before the election. Comey has admitted that his bureau has only began to assess the content of the emails, which could prove to be unrelated to the Democratic nominee. The FBI did not obtain a warrant to look through the emails until Oct. 30.

On Oct. 31, Clinton addressed the latest controversy during a rally in Kent, Ohio. The former Secretary of State asserted that the FBI’s disclosure was a non-story released for suspicious motivations.

“I am sure a lot of you may be asking what this new email story is about and why in the world the FBI would decide to jump into an election with no evidence of any wrong doing with just days to go,” Clinton said, according to Fox 17. “That is a good question.”

While national polls have indicated a recent tightening of support for the two candidates, Clinton is still projected to be the heavy favorite to win on election day.

FiveThirtyEight, the polling website spearheaded by statistician Nate Silver, currently forecasts that Clinton has a 74.4 percent chance of winning based on polls, the current state of the economy and historical trends. They only project Trump to have a 25.5 percent chance of victory.

Sources: FiveThirtyEight, Fox 17, The New York Times / Photo Credit: Lorie Shaull/Flickr