Less than two weeks out from Election Day, more than 8 million people nationwide have voted early in the 2018 midterms. The current nationwide total of early or absentee ballots counted — 8,156,995 — exceeds the 2016 total from two weeks before Election Day (Oct. 26, 2016) by over 200,000, according to data provided by TargetSmart and independently analyzed by the NBC News Data Analytics Lab. Nationally (among all states with early voting activity so far), Republican-affiliated voters make up 44 percent of the early voting electorate and Democratic-affiliated voters make up 40 percent of the early voting electorate. Republicans...