The midterm elections are already underway around the country as early mail-in ballots begin to be processed, with nearly a million returned in Pennsylvania.
While actual results are not yet available, state tracking data of voting demographics gives a hint at how things are progressing.
A total of 1,293,806 ballots were requested in Pennsylvania for 2026, according to the latest data from the Department of State.
Of the 933,707 returned ballots, 610,617 are from registered Democratic voters, 233,986 are from registered Republican voters, and 89,104 are independent, according to the state.
Thus far, the data reflects a better mail-in ballot showing for Republicans than in the last midterm election in 2022, but not as good as the presidential election in 2024. Four years ago, Republicans only received 253,240 mail-in votes, a number they've almost reached already, even with 400,000 mail-ins still to be tabulated. Two years ago, the red surge that flipped Pennsylvania for Donald Trump and Dave McCormick was helped by around 587,000 registered Republicans voting by mail-in.
Democrats, meanwhile, had 822,861 mail-in votes four years ago, a figure they stand well shy of at this point in the tabulation, and just short of 1 million in 2024.
An NBC News analysis provides further detail for the 2026 midterms, indicating that 12 percent of Democratic voters voted for the first time ever in 2024, while 4 percent have never voted before at all. On the Republican side, 2024 was the first time for 14 percent, while 3 percent are new voters.
Those figures indicate that at least on the mail-in ballot side, new Pennsylvania voters have been attracted to Democrats slightly more in 2026, and Republicans slightly more in 2024.
Mail-in voting has been significantly more popular this year than the last midterm election in 2022, as only about 48,000 mail-in votes were cast that year.
There are 9,052,367 registered voters in Pennsylvania, according to the Department of State.
Sign up for free local newsletters and alerts for the
Across Pennsylvania Patch
Patch.com is the nationwide leader in hyperlocal news.
Visit Patch.com to find your town today.