Close to one-million Maryland residents voted early in-person this year.

The turn-out for early in-person was up very slightly from 2020. Another half-a-million mail-in ballots have been returned so far this year, meaning that between mail-in and in-person voting, 37% of Maryland residents have cast a ballot for the 2024 General Election.

State Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis is encouraged by those numbers.

“I'm thrilled that we are seeing this level of participation, because you work hard. This is Democracy. You want participation. It's required in a democracy, and now we're seeing it,” said DeMarinis a few hours before early voting closed on October 31st.

Mail-in ballots still lag behind the total in 2020 when, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country saw a surge in mail-in voting. Ballots placed into a ballot box or postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Day can be accepted.

DeMarinis says many mail-in ballots came in quite early, meaning the state can canvass those results for Election Day on Tuesday, November 5th.

Gallup Research reports over half of Americans say they will vote early or by mail before Tuesday.

Who voted?

 Maryland saw a higher percentage of eligible Republicans come out for early in-person voting than did Democrats: 30% compared to 24%. That’s part of a national trend, according to data from the Election Lab at the University of Florida. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has urged supporters to vote early in this year’s election.

The young are not turning out for early voting, at least not in Maryland. Only 1.5% of eligible voters between the ages of 18-25 voted at an early in-person polling place, down slightly from 2% in 2020. Meanwhile, more older Marylanders decided to take the option: 7% of eligible voters over the age of 65 in 2024 compared to 4.6% in 2020.

Where were people voting?

Baltimore City had the lowest turn-out with only 13.4% of eligible voters coming to vote early-in person, according to data from the State Board of Elections. Allegany County had the second lowest turn-out with 16.5% of eligible voters showing. Baltimore County had a 22.16% turn-out.

Queen Anne’s County had the highest turn-out at 33.87% of eligible voters with Calvert County trailing just behind at 33.6% turn-out.