More than 150,000 Marylanders participated in the first day of the state’s early voting period, about 3.3% of the more than 4.5 million registered voters in Maryland. While we don’t yet know how they voted, we know a little about who voted, and where.

About 51% of Day 1 voters on Thursday were registered Democrats, compared to nearly 35% Republicans. Early turnout data suggest Republicans turned out at a slightly higher rate, though the sample size is small. Statewide, more than 53% of registered voters are Democrats, and nearly 24% Republicans. This is according to early voting data from the Maryland State Board of Elections.

Republicans turned up at higher rates on the earliest day of voting in 21 of 24 Maryland counties. The widest margin was in Calvert County, where about 8% of registered Republican voters cast ballots on day 1, compared to just 4.8% of Democrats.

While Republicans overall turned out at higher rates, they are outnumbered in Maryland overall. About 25,000 more registered Democrats voted on day 1 than registered Republicans.

It’s difficult to compare this year’s early voting numbers to the 2020 presidential election because of the effect the COVID-19 pandemic had on voting. But in 2016, Democrats had a higher turnout in early voting than Republicans.

Early voters were also, in general, older. About 45% of day 1 votes were case by voters 65 or older, and 82% were 45 or older. Just around 3% were between 18 and 24. The majority of them were women, by a margin of about 55% to 45%.

Women showed up early in nearly all Maryland counties, only outnumbered by men in Allegany County, and just barely.

When looking at young voters — those between 18 and 24, a sample of about 4,600 votes across the state — voting patterns by gender range widely. About two-thirds of young voters in Garrett County, for example, were men. On the other extreme, nearly 60% of early voters in Somerset County were women. Among larger counties, Baltimore City had the highest share of young female voters, at more than 55%. But even the city had just over 100 such voters.

Statewide, about 58% of registered female voters are registered as Democrats, compared to 46% of men. On the first day of voting, about 57% of women who cast ballots were registered Democrats vs. 44% for men.

It’s important to remember these numbers are a very small sample, and not a random sample.

Early voting will last through Oct. 31.

Correction: This story has been updated to account for every person who cast a vote on the first day of early voting. A prior analysis treated groups of people as individuals, drastically undercounting the total number of ballots cast.