Harris County Breaks Its Early Voting Record: 104,600 Ballots on Day One
More than 104,600 Harris County voters cast ballots in person on the first day of early voting Monday — smashing the county's midterm record of 63,188 set in 2018 — and the running total passed 384,000 in-person ballots by Thursday.
Harris County voters made history on Monday, October 19, the first day of early voting for the November 3 midterm election. A little over 104,600 people voted in person by the time polls closed, according to the Harris County Elections Department — a new county record for opening-day turnout in a midterm election. The old mark fell early: by 3:30 p.m. Monday, more than 70,000 in-person voters had already been processed, past the previous first-day midterm record of 63,188 set in 2018. The 2022 midterm's first day drew 60,829. Another 24,794 mail ballots had been received as of Monday.
The pace has held through the week. County-reported turnout figures put Harris County at 384,304 in-person ballots through Thursday, October 22, with 28,222 mail ballots received — more than 412,000 ballots cast in total before the final week of early voting has even begun.
The lines started before sunrise. The Houston Press reported voters lining up from 6 a.m. outside the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center on West Gray, and County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth described the morning this way: "There were people lined up as early as 6 o'clock at some of our voting centers, waiting for the doors to open." Hudspeth said she hoped to see record turnout across all 12 days of early voting.
Early voting runs through Friday, October 30. Any registered Harris County voter can cast a ballot at any vote center in the county during early voting — the county's vote-center map is at harrisvotes.com. The registration deadline for this election was October 5, and Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.