Follow WTOP’s team coverage of Election 2026 online, on air at 103.5 FM or on the WTOP News app.
With the midterm elections on Tuesday, the number of ballots already cast across the D.C. region reflects a national surge of early voting numbers.
So far, voters nationwide have returned a total of over 54 million advance ballots in the 2026 general election.
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In Maryland, where voters are choosing among four candidates to be the state’s new governor, nearly 1 million votes were cast during the early voting period from Oct. 22 through Oct. 29. The state had a record-breaking final day of early voting for a gubernatorial election year, with more than 124,000 voters turning in ballots on the last day.
Voters in Maryland will also be deciding on three ballot referendums, and several more locally focused issues depending on the county where they live.
D.C. voters will be electing a new mayor for the first time in 12 years and a new delegate to Congress for the first time in 36 years. The District’s early voting totals came out to more than 98,000.
Virginia voters will choose candidates for the House and Senate, in addition to weighing in on three proposed constitutional amendments. Results from key House races in Virginia are expected to impact the overall balance of power in Congress.
Early voters in Virginia cast 1,631,722 ballots, surpassing the state’s total during the 2022 midterms of 976,558 ballots, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
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