Early voting in Rutherford County surpassed the 2014 midterm's total Tuesday, and with eight of the 14 early voting days still to come.

Another 5,142 early voters cast their ballots Tuesday, Rutherford County Election Commission data show, bringing to county-wide total so far to 29,144.

That tally is 4,043 ballots greater than the 25,101 early and absentee ballots cast in the county during the whole of early voting in 2014.

The county's surging population can explain some, but not all, of the early voting gain compared to 2014. The 2014 early voting total represents 11.6 percent of the estimated 216,588 people age 18 and older who U.S. Census figures say called the county their home in 2014. The current number of early voters, by contrast, comes to 11.8 percent of the 247,642 county residents age 18 and older as of 2017, the latest estimate available.

Early voting still has a considerable way to go before matching the just over 79,000 early votes cast during the 2016 presidential election. But turnout is typically higher in presidential elections than in midterm elections.

Early voting will resume Wednesday and continue daily, except Sunday, through Nov. 1. The data do not indicate which candidates early voters have voted for. Those results will not be released until after polls close on Election Day, Nov. 6.

Murfreesboro continues to provide the bulk of the county's early voters, having sent 19,333 early voters to the polls as of Tuesday, or about two thirds of the total. Smyrna has sent 4,670 (about 16 percent), and LaVergne has sent 2,505 (about 9 percent). The remaining cities and areas in the county have sent less than 3 percent each.

The commission maintains seven early voting locations, five in the Murfreesboro area and one each in Smyrna and LaVergne. All locations except the commission's Murfreesboro office are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday. The commission's office, on the Murfreesboro Square, is open for voting from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday.