With only days remaining before the 2026 midterm elections, CBS News and the data firm VoteHub have turned their attention to the early vote, the ballots already cast while the campaigns make their final appeals. It is a moment when participation is visible but outcomes are not yet written, and the analysts' task is to read what early turnout may suggest without mistaking it for a verdict. Its meaning will depend less on any single day's count than on how the final tallies compare with those of earlier midterm cycles.
What Early Voting Numbers Reveal as Midterm Campaigns Enter Final Days
Early votes measure who has voted, not who will win.
Mark
Why does a short video about early voting deserve attention this close to the election?
Mimi
Because early ballots are real participation already banked. With days left, they're some of the few hard numbers anyone has, and CBS paired its elections director with a VoteHub data scientist to read them.
Luke
Before we go further, what do we actually know they said? The description doesn't give findings.
Mimi
Fair. We know who spoke: Anthony Salvanto and Zachary Donnini. We know the topic is early voting and what turnout patterns may signal. That's it.
Mark
So no figures on turnout?
Luke
None in what we have. Any number I offered would be invented.
Mark
Then what's the useful takeaway?
Mimi
The framing. They're talking about what patterns may signal, which is careful language. Early votes aren't results.
Luke
Right, and I'd add that who votes early can differ from who votes on Election Day, but the source doesn't say that, so treat it as general context, not reporting.
Mark
What should a reader watch next?
Mimi
The final early vote totals, compared with earlier midterm cycles. That's the comparison that gives the numbers meaning.
El Pulso
- Days remain before the 2026 midterms, and the clock is shrinking fast.
- Campaigns are throwing their final energy into the closing stretch while early ballots pile up.
- CBS News elections director Anthony Salvanto and VoteHub's Zachary Donnini are dissecting early turnout data to see what it signals.
- The analysts stress that early totals show who has voted, not who will win, so the picture remains open.
With only days remaining before the 2026 midterm elections, CBS News and the data firm VoteHub have turned their attention to the early vote, the ballots already cast while the campaigns make their final appeals. It is a moment when participation is visible but outcomes are not yet written, and the analysts' task is to read what early turnout may suggest without mistaking it for a verdict. Its meaning will depend less on any single day's count than on how the final tallies compare with those of earlier midterm cycles.
With only days left before the 2026 midterm elections, CBS News has brought two data specialists together to examine the early voting numbers. The segment, published October 29, features Anthony Salvanto, who leads elections and surveys at CBS News, and Zachary Donnini, head of data science at VoteHub.
Their conversation is analytical rather than predictive. Early turnout reveals who has already cast ballots, not how the election will end, and the discussion treats those patterns as a signal to interpret rather than a final answer. The timing gives the analysis weight, since campaigns are intensifying their closing efforts and early vote figures are among the few hard data points available before polls close.
The specific findings and figures discussed in the segment are not detailed in the available material, so no conclusions can be attributed to the analysts here. What is clear is that early turnout is being scrutinized closely in the final stretch.
The key thing to watch is how the final early vote totals compare with those of prior midterm cycles. That comparison will do more to explain the numbers than any single day's tally as Election Day approaches.
With only days left before the 2026 midterm elections, CBS News has put two data specialists in front of the early voting numbers to ask what they show. The segment, published on October 29, features Anthony Salvanto, CBS News executive director of elections and surveys, and Zachary Donnini, head of data science at VoteHub.
The source material is a short description of a video discussion, and it is thin on specifics. It tells us who is talking and what they are examining, but it does not list the turnout figures, the states involved, or any party-by-party breakdown. This account is limited to what that description establishes.
Salvanto leads the elections and surveys work at CBS News. Donnini leads data science at VoteHub. Together they are breaking down early voting data at a point when campaigns are making their final push. The framing is analytical: the conversation is about what early turnout patterns may signal about the midterms, not a declaration of how the election will end.
That distinction matters, because early voting totals measure who has already cast ballots, not who will win. They are one input among several as Election Day approaches, and the segment treats them as a signal to be interpreted rather than a verdict.
The timing also shapes the conversation. With campaigns intensifying their closing efforts, early vote numbers are among the few hard data points available before polls close. They give analysts a view into participation while the race is still underway.
What the two analysts concluded is not spelled out in the material available here, so no numbers or findings can be responsibly attributed to them. What can be said is that CBS News and VoteHub are treating early turnout as worth close examination in the campaign's final stretch.
The thing to watch is the final early vote totals, and how they compare with those from prior midterm cycles. That comparison, more than any single day's tally, is what will give the numbers their meaning as Election Day arrives.
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