The first week of early voting in Texas is almost over, and while the first day broke records in the state, it seems that the turnout among voters is slowly falling.
According to KXAN, 3,506,218 Texas have casted their ballots so far. With 18.6 million registered voters in the state, this means that so far the 18.83% of all Texas votes have casted their votes.
Just the first day of early voting broke turnout records in the state. According to the Hill, the turnout was highest in blue-aligned counties, such as Harris, Travis and Bexar.
Despite the first day high turnout, The Texas Tribune noted that overall turnout is slowing down, when taking into consideration percentages. While more people have casted their ballots than in 2020 elections, the percentage of early voters have decreased.
For example by the end of the third day of in-person early voting in 2020, the 15.7% of registered voters had casted their ballots, while this year 15.1% voters did so. The Tribune explains that this is because lower rates of mail in voting.
In 2020 there was a greater emphasis on mail-in ballots due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so this brings challenges for comparing this year with 2020’s turnout.
Despite this, some counties are steadily increasing their turnout. Kxan noted that so far nine counties have surpassed 30% turnout. Llano County is leading the state at 35.85% turnout, followed by Blanco County at 34.77%.
Overall, in 2020 66.73% of registered voters in Texas casted a ballot, an increase from 59.39% in the 2016 presidential election.
So far, polls favor Donald Trump over Kamala Harris in the state. Both of them will hold rallies in the state today, October 25. Super star Beyoncé is expected to appear at Harris’ today.
