What Does Early Voting Data Actually Tell Us?

Democrats and Republicans are arguing that early turnout is in their favor. But this year, it’s less clear what that data actually means.

Early Voting sign
Jason Allen/AP

Democrats and Republicans are both using early voting numbers to make the case that there’s momentum behind their candidates.

The truth? No one really knows.

Despite political operatives on both sides of the aisle scrambling to characterize early voting data in their favor to make sense of a close presidential election, there’s not actually much to safely conclude from those numbers.