WASHINGTON  Nearly 45 million Americans have cast early ballots ahead of next week's Election Day, according to a monitor's data published Monday.  The University of Florida's Election Lab counted some 44.87 million early ballots that have been cast either via mail or in-person early voting. The division is nearly evenly split between those who have gone to polling stations early and those who have mailed in their ballots. In those states where party affiliation data is available, slightly more