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A voter receives an "I Voted" sticker after casting their ballot on the first day of in-person early voting on Oct. 2, 2022, in Las Vegas.
A voter receives an "I Voted" sticker after casting their ballot on the first day of in-person early voting on Oct. 2, 2022, in Las Vegas.David Becker / Getty Images file

In-person voting set to increase from 2020, poll suggests 

NBC News poll: Nearly half of voters plan to vote on Election Day.

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This year’s midterm elections could see a boost in voters casting their ballots in person on Election Day, after early and mail voting hit record levels in 2020 amid the Covid pandemic. 

An NBC News poll found 47% of registered voters say they plan to cast their ballots in person on Election Day. Meanwhile, four in 10 voters plan to vote early in person or by mail, and 9 percent say they have already voted. 

That would be a sizable jump from 2020, when nearly 31% of voters cast their ballots in person on Election Day, according to a report from the Election Assistance Commission. Many states expanded access to early and absentee voting as in-person participation raised concerns about contracting the coronavirus. In the 2016 presidential election, nearly 55% of voters cast ballots in person on Election Day. 

The NBC News poll, which was conducted Oct. 14-18, also found that preferred methods of voting split along partisan lines. Six in 10 Democrats say they have already voted or plan to vote early, while 60% of Republicans say they plan to vote on Election Day. 

“What we see is, once again, sharp partisan and demographic differences in terms of how people plan on voting,” said Democratic pollster Aileen Cardona of Hart Research, which conducted the poll along with the GOP firm Public Opinion Strategies. 

Cardona noted that a sizable share of Republicans who view themselves more as supporters of former President Donald Trump than the party say they plan to vote in person, which could be tied to Trump casting doubt on the legitimacy of mail ballots.  

While 77% of registered voters say they are confident their votes will be counted accurately, Republicans have less confidence than Democrats. Two-thirds of Republicans have that confidence, compared to 93% of Democrats and 79% of independents.

The NBC News poll was conducted Oct. 14-18 of 1,000 registered voters — 750 of whom were reached by cellphone — and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.