US election: More than 80 million general election ballots cast

US election
L-R: Trump and Biden

Voters wait in line outside Philadelphia City Hall to cast their early voting ballots at the satellite polling station on October 27 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Voters wait in line outside Philadelphia City Hall to cast their early voting ballots at the satellite polling station on October 27 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mark Makela/Getty Images

More than 80 million people have voted in the US so far with five days left until Election Day, according to a survey of election officials in all 50 states and Washington, DC, by CNN, Edison Research, and Catalist.

These votes currently account for about 38% of registered voters nationwide, as pre-Election Day voting is surging nationwide amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

States are also reporting record turnout compared to last cycle. The 80.1 million ballots cast so far represents about 59% of the more than 136.5 million ballots cast in the 2016  presidential election.

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So far, 28 states and Washington, DC, have also crossed their halfway marks for total 2016 ballots cast, including 10 of CNN’s 16 most competitively-ranked states: Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Maine, and Nevada.

About half of the votes already cast this cycle comes from those 16 key states, which will play a crucial role in determining who wins the presidency this year.

Some voter information comes from Catalist, a company that provides data, analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit issue-advocacy organizations and is giving insights into who is voting before November.