First-time Early Voters

Only 6% of the early ballots cast so far are from first-time early voters. Compared to voters who have cast early ballots in previous elections, first-time early voters are more likely to have an unknown party affiliation, likely due to a lack of primary voting history. Virginia does not require voter registration by party, so political consultants must estimate the partisanship of voters based on participation in primary elections and other available data.


Share of First-time Early Voters

(As of Oct. 24, 2023)

Donut chart showing the percent of early votes cast by first time early voters


Partisanship of First-time Early Voters

(As of Oct. 24, 2023)

Bar graph showing the percent of Democratic, Republican, and unknown party votes cast by first time early voters

For more details, including early voting by locality, see VPAP's Early Voting Dashboard

Notes: Early ballots cast as of October 24. "First-time early voters" are those who have not cast an early ballot in a Virginia November Election since 2016.

Virginia does not require voter registration by party. VPAP matched the voter IDs in the Dept. of Elections early voting file with data provided by L2 Political, which uses an algorithm to estimate the likely party of voters, based on factors such as past participation in primary elections and demographics.

Source: Virginia Department of Elections early voting file, and L2 Political.

Oct. 26, 2023