US Elections Project
Turnout and voter data project run by University of Florida political scientist Michael McDonald.
Michael McDonald's project is the standard reference for reading early-vote counts such as Georgia's record 188,667 first-day ballots on 13 October 2026, which he has long argued mostly show when people vote, not how many.
Last refreshed: 18 October 2026
Timeline for US Elections Project
Mentioned in: Georgia sets a midterm early-vote record
US Midterms 2026Background
The US Elections Project is a leading source of US turnout data. Georgia set a midterm first-day early-vote record on 13 October 2026, with 188,667 in-person ballots. The project's Michael McDonald has long argued that such records mostly show a shift in when people vote, not how many: voters who once turned out on election day now bank their ballots early.
Michael P. McDonald, a political Science professor at the University of Florida, runs the project. It describes itself as an information source for the US electoral system and publishes turnout rates, turnout by group and precinct data.
Its turnout datasets have moved to the University of Florida Election Lab, which now hosts the figures that reporters and campaigns use to set early-vote counts against past elections.
Who runs the US Elections Project?
What data does the US Elections Project publish?
Does record early voting mean higher turnout?
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 18 October 2026. Editorial standards.