Record Early Voting

In Dallas, Texas:

Elections administrator Bruce Sherbet said 477,455 people voted early in Dallas County, according to a preliminary tally.

The record of 322,000 early votes was toppled by Wednesday night, with two of the heaviest days of voting left.

In Illinois:

Early voting, making its Illinois debut in a presidential year, provided election officials with a window into voters' excitement for the race. In all, more than 779,000 people from Chicago to McHenry County cast ballots between Oct. 13 and Thursday, the final day for early voting, officials said. Those totals beat the estimate of 697,000 given this week.

In Florida:

Almost 185,000 people have cast ballots at the county's 17 early voting locations as of Thursday. Another 87,600 people have returned absentee ballots. That approaches the previous high of 275,000 votes cast before Election Day in 2004.

In West Virginia:

As of Friday morning, nearly 122,000 state residents had cast ballots in West Virginia's 55 counties. That's about 10 percent of the state's eligible voters.

In 2004, the state recorded 126,503 early votes.

In Charleston, South Carolina:

With just one day left to vote early, we've already shattered previous records. Long lines are the norm at polling places across the state these days. Secretary of State Betty Ireland says the turnout is record-breaking, "Through this early voting period we've already had 133,000 people cast an early voting ballot or an absentee ballot. That's a record".

In Hawaii:

With thousands of early voters still expected tomorrow, balloting on Oahu has already topped total early turnout in the last presidential election.

The number of people voting had hit 53,000 statewide when polls at county seats and other early voting sites reopened Friday for the final two days of voting. On Oahu, the count was 29,343, compared with 29,000 total early ballots in 2004, according to elections spokesman Rex Quidilla.

This is gearing up to be a great election here in the USA. I think that, in the end, voter turnout will be of record proportion with many voters coming to the voting booth for the very first time.. and some disenfranchised folks will return to the booth for the first time in many years.. and that is good.