(WASHINGTON) — More than 23 million people have voted early in the 2022 general election, according to data analyzed by the University of Florida’s U.S. Elections Project — about 15 million more than just one a week ago.

As of Tuesday morning, the project counted 23,919,686 early votes, of which 13,790,577 were mail-in ballots returned and 10,129,109 ballots cast in person so far. Last Monday, Oct. 24, the count was 8,018,219.

On Oct. 17, ElectProject.org had tallied 2,030,730 early votes, including 1,842,115 returned mail-in ballots and 188,615 ballots cast in person.

A number of states have opened up early voting within the past week, according to University of Florida professor Michael McDonald, who heads the Elections Project. That has led to the sharp uptick in early vote totals. Turnout in 2022 is still projected to be higher than usual for a midterm election, according to McDonald, even though midterms have historically low participation compared to presidential cycles despite growing interest in recent years.

“It does seem very robust, early voting … I think we’re looking at more like a 2018 election, definitely,” he told ABC News, noting that the last midterm election in 2018 recorded some of the highest turnout in the nation’s history.

With the general election now 15 days away, some sort of early voting option is underway in over 35 states. Early voting periods range in length from four days to 45 days before Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The pace of early voting numbers should pick up even further this week, McDonald said, as additional states start offering in-person early voting and additional ballots should be sent out for those who have requested mail-in options.

Georgia, in its first general election test of a sweeping elections bill signed into law in 2021 by incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp — legislation that Democrats widely deemed as restrictive — has been shattering past turnout trends.

Georgia has had record early voting turnout since the option to cast a ballot opened last Oct. 17, surging to nearly twice the number on the first day of early voting in 2018, according to the secretary state’s website.

Totals are within “striking distance” of the 2020 presidential election turnout.

As of Friday, Georgia was well over the one million mark with 1,250,091 voters having cast their ballots. The state noted that 18,109 showed up on the first Sunday of early voting. Sunday’s total “marks an astounding 211% of the 2018 midterm total for the first Sunday of Early Voting,” according to the secretary of state.

“One in five active Georgia voters has made a plan and gotten their ballots in early,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said on Friday. “They’ve played a wonderful role in reducing the lift for their county election directors come November 8th.”

On Sunday, Raffensperger said that while one in five active voters had already voted in the state, Georgia is set to hit the 2-million-mark next week.

In Florida, in-person early voting began a week ago on Monday in 37 Florida counties. The state has already seen some of the highest numbers of the cycle, mostly leading the nation in early vote totals. The state is currently totaling at 2,774,204 cast thus far, the second highest rates in the nation.

But Texas, which also started early voting last Monday, quickly shot up in ballots cast. The Lone Star State currently now leads the country in early voting, with 3,315,896 ballots returned.

“Texas blew through 1 million voted yesterday, spurred primarily by in-person early voting,” McDonald said in a tweet on Wednesday.

California has remained competitive in early voting as well, currently at 2,359,851 ballots returned.

McDonald has said that because of Florida, Texas and California’s larger size, broader voter turnout activity is expected, along with the fact that Floridians tend to use mail ballots more frequently than some of the other states have so far been casting votes early.

Of the states that record party registration, the U.S. Elections Project shows more Democrats have voted early this cycle — 44.8% compared to only 33.3% of Republicans, though Republican totals have creeped up over the past week while Democrats’ have decreased.

The share of Republicans who are recorded saying voters should be allowed to vote early or absentee without a documented reason fell drastically in the past few years, according to a 2021 Pew Research survey– down 19% from 2018. The same survey found that Democrats were more than twice as likely as Republicans to strongly support making early, in-person voting available to voters for at least two weeks prior to Election Day.

The use of absentee and mail-in ballots have been subject to conspiracy and skepticism after former President Donald Trump said that mail-in ballots lead to voter fraud in 2020.

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(NEW YORK) — A woman who accused Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker of pressuring her into having an abortion defended her claims in an exclusive interview with ABC News, saying he is not fit for office and that “honesty matters.”

Walker has denied the allegations, which were first made at a press conference last week, dismissing the claims as “foolishness” while adding “this is all a lie, and I will not entertain any of it.”

The woman, whom ABC News agreed to call Jane Doe, told ABC News in her first on-camera interview that she decided to come forward after another woman made similar claims that Walker had also pressured her into having an abortion.

Speaking with Juju Chang, co-anchor of ABC News’ Nightline, the woman said that in 1993 she became pregnant amid a yearslong affair with Walker, saying they saw each other “several times a week, usually in the mornings” and that they were in love.

“[Walker] was very clear that he did not want me to have the child. And he said that because of his wife’s family and powerful people around him that I would not be safe and that the child would not be safe,” the woman said.

“I felt threatened and I thought I had no choice,” said the woman, who has come forward on camera for the first time since making her allegations public at a press conference last week with her attorney, Gloria Allred.

Responding to the ABC News interview, Walker issued a statement Tuesday saying, “This was a lie a week ago and it is a lie today. Seven days before an election, the Democrats trot out Gloria Allred and some woman I do not know. My opponents will do and say anything to win this election. The entire Democrat machine is coming after me and the people of Georgia. I am not intimidated. Once again, they messed with the wrong Georgian.”

In her interview with Chang, Jane Doe recalled initially going to a clinic to have an abortion before abruptly leaving after having a change of heart.

“I guess it is part of the procedure then that they did an ultrasound. And I saw the ultrasound and I couldn’t go through with it. So I left the clinic and went back home,” she said with emotion in her voice.

According to the woman, Walker then told her he would drive her to the clinic to have the procedure.

“He came to my house and picked me up and drove me to the clinic,” the woman recalled. “I went in alone and he waited in the car while I went in and had the procedure. And then I came out and he drove me to the drugstore, and then he took me home.”

Jane Doe said Walker gave her cash to pay for the abortion. She said she has no receipt for the payment or record of the procedure.

Walker, who is running against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, is campaigning as a staunch anti-abortion-rights candidate.

According to Jane Doe, she maintained a friendly relationship with Walker for decades and last spoke with him by phone in March 2020.

Two women identified to ABC News as friends of Jane Doe by her lawyer Gloria Allred said that Jane Doe confided to them in the 1990s that she had a yearslong affair with Walker and that she became pregnant during that relationship.

Jane Doe said she last saw Walker at a mental health event in 2019.

“He gave — he hugged me, and was very happy to see me … He was very nice and cordial,” she said of their meeting in 2019.

One of the woman identified as a friend of Jane Doe’s said she was with her at the event and took a picture of her and Walker together, telling ABC News, “They embraced for a long time … they had clearly known each other for years and years.”

Jane Doe said she never brought up the abortion with Walker while they stayed in touch.

Walker previously denied an ex-girlfriend’s claim to various news outlets that he paid for her to have an abortion in 2009. That woman told The Daily Beast that she had documents supporting her allegation, including a receipt from an abortion clinic, a bank deposit receipt with an image of a $700 check that she said was signed by Walker sent within a week of the abortion, and also a “get well” card that she said was signed by Walker.

During an appearance last week on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier, Walker issued blanket denials about the recent allegations made against him.

“Well, that’s a lie. And I’ve said that’s a lie and I hope people can see right now that Raphael Warnock and the Left would do whatever they can to win the seat,” Walker said. “I’ve said it once and I’ve moved on, my campaign moved on because we’re worried about what the Georgia people are talking about … I’ve said this a lie. I’ve moved on, and they want me to play these guessing games and all of this, but I’m not. I’m not into that. I’m into winning this great seat back for the great people of Georgia because that’s what this is about.”

Jane Doe told Chang that, following Walker’s denials, she now thinks he isn’t fit to be a U.S. senator.

Asked why, she said, “I think honesty matters.”

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