Early Voting Results: Obama Has Edge In Swing States

With early voting still under way in several states, President Barack Obama seems to have the edge over his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, as results show Democratic voters are outnumbering Republicans in five swing states that could decide the 2012 election.

More than 29 million Americans have already voted, and the Obama and Romney campaigns have already begun disagreeing on who is winning.

Democratic voters are outnumbering Republicans in Florida, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio, according to multiple reports, while Republicans are ahead in Colorado, a state Obama won in 2008.

While it may appear that the president has the edge, the race is still too close to call, as several national polls show the two men neck-and-neck just 24 hours before the general election.

Florida

More than 4 million people have cast early or absentee ballots in Florida; the Democrats have a tiny advantage. Four years ago, Obama had a 9-point lead in early voting. However, each party has seen a boost; approximately 246,000 more Democrats cast early votes while 87,000 more Republicans cast absentee ballots.

Early voting in Florida is quite messy, as it was scheduled to end Saturday, but a lawsuit from the Florida Democratic Party seeks to secure additional early-voting time for some counties in South Florida – mostly Democratic-leaning – because of long lines and wait times.

Iowa

Obama’s 11-point lead among early voters in Iowa is smaller than in 2008, according to USA Today. The paper said 40,000 Democrats did not return their mail ballots while only 21,000 Republicans failed to do the same.

North Carolina

Democrats also dominated early voting in North Carolina, where more than 2.5 million ballots were cast. Registered Democrats secured almost 48 percent of those with Republicans holding nearly 32 percent. That 16 percentage point edge is low compared to the 21-point early-voting edge Democrats held in 2008.

Ohio

More than 1.6 million early voters have turned out in the Buckeye State. Voters in Ohio aren’t required to register by party, and instead, the state classifies them according to the primary in which they most recently voted. If an individual didn’t vote in the most recent primary, he or she is listed as a nonparty voter. Public polls showed that Obama has held a consistent lead among likely voters in Ohio, a state he won by 5 percentage points four years ago.

Nevada

Early voting finished Friday in Nevada, and according to USA Today, Obama has a 7-point lead. Registered Democrats also outnumbered registered Republicans in that state and more than 701,845 early votes were cast. Reports are that the early vote amounted to 56 percent of the registered voters in the state. Romney will now need to break into the Democrats' margins in Clark County, score at least a tie in Washoe County and bring out the votes in rural Nevada, USA Today reported a memo from the Republican National Committee stated.

Colorado

The race in Colorado is very close and more than 1.6 million voters have cast early ballots. Republicans hold a very slight advantage in party registration among early voters, 36.9 percent to 34.6 percent. In 2008, it was the Democrats who had a tiny advantage, and Obama won the state.