There has been a national surge of early voting ahead of Tuesday’s midterms, and while Mississippi doesn’t technically have no-excuse early voting, thousands of voters in the Magnolia State have already cast absentee ballots.
The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office reported Monday that circuit clerks statewide had received 116,453 absentee ballots, marking a significant increase from the 2022 midterms. The office also reported that 122,590 ballots had been sent to voters, leaving 6,137 that could still arrive by mail if postmarked on or before Election Day.
In Mississippi, voters must meet certain eligibility requirements to vote absentee. Qualifying reasons include being out of town on Election Day, working during polling hours, or being 65 years or older.
In the 2022 midterms, which took place halfway through Democratic President Joe Biden’s lone term in office, approximately 709,000 total ballots were cast in Mississippi, representing 32.5% of registered voters at the time. Of those, 49,630, or about 7%, were absentee ballots.
With absentee participation already more than double the 2022 total, Mississippi could be on pace for a notable increase in voter turnout. However, the final numbers will depend on how many additional voters head to the polls Tuesday.
READ MORE: What to know before going to the polls on Election Day
Nationally, more than 50 million Americans had voted early as of Oct. 31, according to an analysis by the University of Florida. That’s nearly 5 million more than the total number of early votes recorded during the 2022 midterms.
Mississippi voters will decide one of the state’s two U.S. Senate seats and all four of its congressional districts. Several local judicial races and special elections are also taking place across the state.
