WASHINGTON 

Nearly 45 million Americans have cast early ballots ahead of next week's Election Day, according to a monitor's data published Monday. 

The University of Florida's Election Lab counted some 44.87 million early ballots that have been cast either via mail or in-person early voting. The division is nearly evenly split between those who have gone to polling stations early and those who have mailed in their ballots.

In those states where party affiliation data is available, slightly more Democrats – 8.79 million – than Republicans – 7.95 million – have voted early. Some 5.3 million voters unaffiliated with either major party have also cast their ballots.

Nearly every US state has some form of early voting in place for people who cannot make it to polling stations during the middle of a work week next Tuesday.

An average of polling compiled by the RealClearPolitics website shows Trump and Harris in a virtual dead heat nationally ahead of next week’s election, set for Tuesday, Nov. 5. But Trump leads in key battleground states that will be pivotal to the race's outcome.

Trump's lead is narrowest in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and North Carolina, where the ex-president is ahead by 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively. He leads by 1.5% in Nevada and 2.3% in Georgia.

Those states are pivotal, because the US does not directly elect its presidents. Instead, the process plays out via the Electoral College where 538 representatives cast their ballots in line with their states’ outcomes.

Either candidate needs to secure 270 Electoral College votes to claim victory. Electors are allocated to states based on their population, and most states give all of their electors to whichever candidate wins the state in the general vote.

The winner-take-all model is not followed in Nebraska and Maine, however, which instead allocate their votes proportionally based on their final outcomes.