Texas Early Voting Passes 5.66 Million Through Tuesday, More Than All of 2022 - Harris County Leads the State at 760,551
Through day nine of twelve, Texans have cast 5,664,689 early ballots - already more than the entire 2022 early-voting period - and Harris County's 760,551 ballots are the most of any county in the state, with two days of early voting left after Wednesday.
Texas has already out-voted its last midterm's entire early-voting period, with days still to spare. Through Tuesday, October 27 - day nine of the twelve-day early-voting period - Texans had cast 5,664,689 early ballots, 5,437,603 of them in person and 227,086 by mail received, according to the TexPolls turnout tracker, which tallies the Secretary of State's county files. That is 29.7 percent of the state's 19,041,684 registered voters, and it already exceeds all of early voting in 2022, when 5,497,027 ballots were cast early in total.
The in-person pace is the sharpest comparison. In-person voters are 28.6 percent of registered voters through day nine, against 20.0 percent on the same day in 2022 - up 8.6 points, on 54 percent more in-person votes than the 3,526,753 cast by this point four years ago. Harris County leads the state in raw ballots with 760,551 reported - 724,589 in person and 35,962 by mail - which is 27.7 percent of its registered voters, up 8.2 points from 19.5 percent at the same point in 2022. Dallas County is next at 459,285, followed by Tarrant at 432,993, Bexar at 389,484 and Travis at 322,959.
Nationally, trackers estimate roughly 34 million people had voted early as of Wednesday, a pace Particle News reported is putting this midterm on track to exceed 2022's early participation, with a shift toward in-person voting and heavier demand straining election offices. The trackers and analysts are consistent on one caution, and this station repeats it: early turnout totals show who has voted, not how they voted, and they are not a forecast of any race - including the Paxton-Talarico Senate contest that will help decide control of the U.S. Senate.
Two practical notes close the file. The tracker flags five counties - Waller, Rusk, Willacy, Pecos and Floyd - whose state counts barely rose on October 27, so the statewide total may rise when their reports catch up; Waller County borders Harris County to the northwest. And the calendar is short now: early voting runs through Friday, October 30, and Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Harris County voters can cast a ballot at any vote center in the county during early voting.
