Early Voting Nears a Record 50 Million as Escambia County Voters Get Their Final Early Day
More than 49 million Americans have already voted — a midterm record — as the campaign for Congress enters its final weekend, and Escambia County's last early-voting day runs Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 10 locations.
Early voting in the 2026 midterms has already set a record. More than 49 million Americans have cast ballots in person or by mail, according to the University of Florida's Election Lab figures reported by Reuters on Saturday — up from nearly 46 million who voted before Election Day in the last midterms, in 2022 — as the campaign for control of Congress entered its final weekend.
For Escambia County voters, Saturday is the last chance to vote early. Early voting runs from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. at 10 locations across the county, and voters may use any of them. After Saturday, the next opportunity is Election Day itself, Tuesday, November 3, when precinct polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and voters must use their assigned precinct.
The final weekend also brought national legal fights into the campaign. Reuters reported that the Justice Department accelerated a criminal investigation in Alaska on Friday in a closely contested Senate race, and that the administration has sued California seeking to prevent the counting of ballots cast by more than 20,000 registered voters it alleged could be noncitizens. President Donald Trump, who is not scheduled to travel on Saturday, returns to the campaign trail on Sunday in Kansas and Iowa. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted September 30 to October 5 found 76 percent of voters confident their ballots will be counted accurately.
