More than 10 million Americans have already voted as five more states open early voting

Polling places opened their doors in five more states on Tuesday as the number of Americans who have already voted in the midterm elections climbed past 10.6 million. Voters in Hawaii, Louisiana, Missouri, Utah and Wisconsin can now cast ballots in person, two weeks before the Nov. 3 election that will decide control of Congress along with 36 governor's races.

The early vote now covers 38 states, counting mail ballots that have been returned and in-person votes. The total has jumped in recent days as big states joined in. Two of them set the pace this week.

Houston smashes its first-day record

Texas opened early voting on Monday. Harris County, home to Houston, blew past its old mark right away. The county checked in 104,660 in-person voters on the first day, according to unofficial county figures. The previous first-day record for a midterm was 63,188, set in 2018. Counting 24,794 mail ballots received so far, nearly 130,000 people in the county have now voted.

Lines wrapped around community centers at many of the county's 75 early voting sites. The busiest site handled more than 3,100 voters by 6 p.m. People waiting outside pointed to grocery bills, gas prices and the wars overseas as the reasons they came out early. One man said a can of coffee that cost $12 two years ago now costs $25. Early voting in Texas runs through Oct. 30. The state's Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico is one of the most closely watched in the country.

Georgia passes 1 million

In Georgia more than 1,027,000 people had voted by Tuesday morning, a little ahead of the same point in 2022. Almost all of them voted in person. Black voters have cast close to 358,000 of those ballots, about 35% of the total. One analysis of state records found that late last week Black voters were nearly 7% ahead of their 2022 pace, with voters 65 and older driving most of the gain.

Women make up 55% of Georgia's early voters so far. Nearly half of the ballots came from people 65 and older. About 160,000 of the people who have voted did not vote at all in the 2022 general election. Early voting in Georgia also ends Oct. 30. The state's Senate race between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Mike Collins tops the ballot.

Who votes next

Six states opened in-person voting on Monday: Texas, South Carolina, Arkansas, Alaska, Colorado and Connecticut. West Virginia follows on Wednesday, then Delaware and Maryland on Thursday. Florida, Michigan, New Jersey and New York open on Saturday. Washington, D.C., starts on Oct. 26, Oklahoma on Oct. 28 and Kentucky on Oct. 29. Rules on hours, locations and ID differ from state to state and sometimes from county to county, so election officials urge voters to check their local office before heading out.

What the numbers can and cannot tell you

Experts caution that early turnout does not reveal who is winning. Party registration only shows which party a voter signed up with, not how that person voted. People who vote by mail have leaned Democratic in recent elections while people who vote in person, early or on Election Day, have leaned Republican, so early totals can swing as more in-person votes come in. Ballots are not counted until Election Day in most states.

What the numbers do show is energy. A new national poll found that 71% of voters say the price of gas is unaffordable. Cost of living came up again and again in voter lines from Houston to suburban Atlanta. With all 435 House seats on the ballot and the Senate majority in play in states such as Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Maine and Alaska, both parties are racing to get their voters to the polls in the final two weeks.