More than 20 million early votes cast so far, as women, older voters lead the way

By Annie Grayer and Aaron Kessler, CNN

Updated 10:51 AM ET, Wed October 31, 2018

Washington (CNN)With exactly one week until Election Day, at least 20 million people across the country have already cast their ballots for the midterms as of Wednesday morning.

CNN is partnering with Catalist, a data company that works with Democrats and others, to compile counts of ballots cast before Election Day, either early in-person or by mail.

Below is a breakdown of how votes are coming in from seven critical states, and how tallies from this year compare to the 2014 and 2016 cycles. In some states the analysis includes a dive into ballots cast by party registration and demographics available through each state's voter file.

Catalist compiles these data by matching ballot request and return data from official sources to their database of voter records. This allows for analysis of ballots returned based on voters' partisan affiliation and certain demographic traits.

So far, some emerging themes are clear: more women than men have voted. And the early vote is also predominantly older in the seven states, although a higher percentage of early voters are often older.

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https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/31/politics/early-vote-as-of-wednesday-morning/index.html