Record-number of early votes cast in US election - where are they being kept?

US voters are casting ballots early in record numbers this year, with officials processing millions more mail-in ballots than usual.

More than 77 million people have participated in early voting - either in person or through the mail.

By contrast, in 2020, 65.6 million people cast postal votes and in 2016, 47.2 million people made their choice early.

The increase in pre-election day voting points to a long-term trend, which was accelerated by the pandemic during the 2020 election, which has resulted in a lasting shift in voting behaviour.

Here, ITV News explains when the early votes will be counted and where they are being kept.

What is an early vote?

Early voting in the US allows eligible voters to cast their ballots before election day and generally takes three forms:

• In-person early voting: Many states offer in-person early voting, where voters can go to designated polling locations in the days or weeks leading up to election day. The goal is to make voting more accessible.

• Mail-in voting: This allows voters to receive and return their ballots by mail, with no need to visit a polling location. To participate, voters usually must request a mail-in ballot (though some states automatically send them to all registered voters). Once completed, ballots can be returned by mail or dropped off at secure locations.

• Absentee voting: Absentee voting originally served people who could not vote in person due to travel, health, military service, or other specific reasons. In many states, absentee voting is available to anyone, regardless of their reason.

When are early votes counted?

Most states can begin processing ballots in some form before election day, which could help avoid delays in reporting results.

But in two critical battleground states - Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - officials are not allowed to start processing early ballots until on or just before election day itself.

Counting votes will also take longer than usual because many states will allow extra time for ballots to arrive after election day - as long as they’re postmarked on or before November 5.

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Where are early ballots kept?

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, most ballots have to be processed before being counted.

It says: "While this procedure varies by state, processing generally involves confirming the identity and authenticity of the voter, verifying the voter’s information to confirm that they are registered and eligible to vote, and checking the signature on the ballot envelope against a signature on file."

Processing is typically conducted at a central counting facility, but some states process mail ballots at polling places instead.

After this information is verified, the ballot is separated from the envelope with the voter's information - to protect the right to a secret vote - and the count can begin.

Mail-in ballots are then either counted by hand or fed through scanners which log the vote.

Can ballots be tracked?

In almost every state, mailed ballots can be tracked online through a unique bar code on the envelope, allowing voters to watch the movement of their ballot until it is counted.

Does early voting favour one party?

In 2020, the Associated Press reported about two-thirds of the votes cast by mail in that election were for Democrat Joe Biden, compared with about one-third for Republican President Donald Trump.

In contrast, Trump won about two-thirds of the in-person election day vote, compared with about one-third for Biden.

When it came to early in-person voting, there was a near-even split, with Trump having only the slightest advantage.

These patterns continued in the 2022 midterm elections, with Democrats accounting for the bulk of the mail vote, Republicans casting most of the election day vote and Republicans holding a small advantage in early in-person voting.

However, before 2020, voting behaviour appeared to be the opposite pre-election day, making it difficult to weigh up the true impact of early voting.

“People who voted by mail tended to be more Republican than the people who voted in-person early,” said University of Florida political science professor Michael McDonald, but those patterns “were suddenly turned upside down” during the pandemic.

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