Samantha Thompson, a fourth-year student at the University of Iowa, took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to stop by the Iowa Memorial Union on Wednesday to vote in the 2024 general election.

Thompson said she didn’t plan on voting on Wednesday but had seen one of the dozens of signs decorating the sidewalks, poster boards, and digital advertisements across campus and decided to get it out of the way.

“I thought it would be a good way to do it when I was free since election days get kind of busy for me,” Thompson said.

Thompson is one of nearly 1,600 voters, primarily UI students, who have voted early at the IMU — overperforming 2020 totals at the same satellite voting site. In 2020, the early voting site was open for five days compared to just three this year.

Totals for on-campus early voting at the IMU fall behind 2016 numbers where there were three on-campus early voting sites open for five days. More than 2,000 voters voted early at the IMU in 2016.

This year, there were more voters on average per day with nearly 551 per day on average, the most since 2008.

As of Thursday, nearly 20,000 Johnson County voters have voted in the 2024 general election with, 14,282 of those being early in-person votes.

With over 1,700 voters voting early on the first day of early voting this year the county had exceeded first-day in-person early voting totals for every presidential election since 2012.

With deadlines for mail-in ballot requests past, the county saw far fewer mail-in ballots this year compared to 2020, which saw more than 36,000 voters mail-in their ballots, a record number.

This is largely caused by Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate mailing out absentee ballot requests due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number also lags behind 2016 mail-in ballot request totals with more than 15,000 voters voting by mail in 2016.

Statewide, more than 270,000 Iowans have voted early, according to data from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office.

Nationally, nearly 30 million voters have voted early. Swing states have broken turnout records for early voting in a dead-heat presidential race and a narrowing fight for control of Congress.

Early voting key focus for local Democrats

Dan Feltes, the vice chair of the Johnson County Democrats, said there has been record turnout throughout the county and excitement has been high.

Feltes said Johnson County Democrats have been door-knocking, handing out leaflets, and dropping off literature with voters for weeks to turnout voters to the polls.

RELATED: Top-of-ticket excitement trickles down to Iowa Congressional, state house races

According to Iowa City Democrat and 1st Congressional District Candidate Christina Bohannan’s campaign, they have focused efforts on turning out student votes in the district with a team of student organizers on campus. They’ve also registered 2,000 students on campus since August and continue to work on getting out student votes.

Feltes said they emphasize voters should not wait until it’s too late and get their votes in early.

“Something could come up on election day and you never know what could come up,” Feltes said. “Don’t wait, make a plan to vote.”

Despite concerns and mixed messages from former President Donald Trump on early voting, Republicans are coming out in record numbers nationwide.

Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann encouraged early voting in a news release on the first day of early voting on Oct. 16.

“With so many strong conservative candidates on the ballot across Iowa this year, it is vital that you make sure they receive your vote,” Kaufmann said in a news release. “This important election will decide what kind of country our grandchildren, like mine, will grow up in.”

Theresa Horton Baumgartner, the chair of the Johnson County Republicans, said the county party has been out encouraging voters to vote early if they can to prevent last-minute life events from preventing someone from voting.

“We’re strongly encouraging people to vote early, vote absentee — to be sure to get your vote in,” Horton Baumgartner said. “We encourage same-day voting as well, so we aren’t discouraging that but I think a lot of times, people don’t vote because they can’t vote on that day, and they don’t realize how simple it is to just walk in and vote a few days early if you are tied up on election day.”