Here are some early vote stats (good news in Iowa, Maine--not so good in NC)

[WI_DEM]

It's early in the process, but here are some early statistics:

IOWA reports as of Thursday that registered Democrats are 64.2% of the 185,747 requested ballots. An Iowa Republican political operative "grimaces" at these numbers, but since at least 2004, more Iowa Democrats have voted early than Republicans. The state has a generous number of early votes, so these statistics will be worth watching to see if Iowa indeed has a close election this cycle.

Party Ballot Requests
Dem 119,318 64.2%
Rep 24,909 13.4%
None 41,366 22.3%
Other 154 0.1%
Total 185,747

IOWA reports 3,559 returned ballots as of Thursday morning.

MAINE reports as of Monday, Sept. 17, 8,624 requested ballots with the following party breakdown:

Party Ballot Requests
Dem 3,938 47.7%
Rep 1,576 19.1%
Green 262 3.2%
Other 2,488 30.1%

NORTH CAROLINA reports as of Thursday morning 78,801 ballot requests with the following party breakdown:

Party Reg
Dem 26.7%
Rep 52.8%
None/Oth 20.5%

http://elections.gmu.edu/early_vote_2012.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I can't bring myself to vote early. Not after the mess that led to a TeaPublican governor.

[Maine-ah]

2. gonna have to agree with you GPV

I didn't EV last election but after the results from the last time, I'm not going to do it either. Luckily for us up here in Maine, voting is easy, and usually quick - and for me in a town with a pop of less than 1200 there's no lines, no waiting.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Yep, and most of us have the added security of pencil and paper voting to boot. :^)

[oswaldactedalone]

3. Too early to worry about NC early voting at this point

In person early voting doesn't begin here until October 18th. The numbers you have reflect absentee ballot requests which are mailed back in. In person early voting accounted for 40% of votes cast in NC in '08.

[WI_DEM]

5. True, it is 'in person voting' that Obama campaign really focuses on

[zazen]

8. THAT explains it--elderly, owners of second homes, military?

Makes me wonder if those are the types who'd be more likely to ask for absentee ballots at this point, and they'd skew Republican.

I didn't think early voting had started here. Whew.

[HereSince1628]

4. IIRC early voting patterns didn't really square with the WI recall

I think it's great that more dems are showing interest in voting. But you vote by mail or at the polls, this problemm has one degree of freedom, a vote by one method removes the chance for a vote by the other. It's still comes down to the proportion of votes out of the total that are counted that wins an election.

[Lex]

6. For NC, that's only absentee so far. Actual in person early voting has NOT started here.

IIRC, a fair amount of absentee voting is military in this state.