Election Day might be one week away, but as of 12:57pm on Tuesday, October 29, more than 50 million votes (and counting) have already been cast. Andrea Hailey, the CEO of Vote.org—the nation’s largest nonpartisan voter engagement organization—spoke to Forbes about this trend and how women and young people are driving a lot of this early vote.
“These narratives about apathy and exhaustion are not true. People are showing up and wanting to participate,” Hailey told ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath, noting that for women in particular, the rollback of reproductive rights has been a motivating factor.
Vote.org has registered more than two million voters this cycle, 400,000 of whom are 18-year-olds. Hailey calls this the “largest” spike she’s seen in 18-year-olds registering, but of course, questions remain about whether these new voters actually show up and vote.
Questions also remain about what, exactly, these early vote totals mean for presidential candidates vice president Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump: Hailey notes that more Republicans are voting early this year than in prior cycles.
“Traditionally a lot of Republicans have voted on Election Day itself, and the question is do we see a surge on Election Day?” she asks.
To see the full conversation, watch the interview above.