Nearly 70 million people had already voted in the US presidential election as of Tuesday, a week before election day, meaning voters have cast more than half of the total ballots counted in the 2016 election.
According to data from the US Elections Project, some 69.5 million people have already used early voting options.
Around 137 million people voted in total in the election four years ago, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Early voting has also far surpassed the 47 million early votes recorded by the Elections Project in 2016.
President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, is trailing Democratic rival Joe Biden in national polls, though the race is tighter in key swing states, which the candidates must win in order to capture the White House.
Far more registered Democrats than Republicans so far appear to have used postal voting, though Republicans have surpassed Democrats in in-person early voting, according to the Elections Project. Being registered with a party is not necessarily a predictor of how someone will vote in the presidential race.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that voting by mail leads to election fraud, an assertion that is not supported by evidence.
Voting by mail and using drop boxes for ballots sent out through the postal system has increased this year, in part because of the coronavirus pandemic, though the trend has been on the increase for a number of general elections.
However, it could also indicate that voters this year have simply made up their minds, solidly, well ahead of the November 3 election day, in numbers not seen in the past.
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