Early voting for the November 3 general election begins tomorrow (Tuesday) and runs through October 30. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) extended the normally two-week early voting period to three weeks in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Harris Co. reported it has mailed out 235K ballots as of the weekend, representing 9.5% of the county’s registered voters. In the 2016 general election, about 100K absentee ballots were cast, corresponding to 7.5% of registered voters. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is October 23.

About 240K absentee ballots – not including Harris Co. – have been returned statewide as of yesterday (Sunday), which is 1.4% of the state’s 16.9M registered voters. The Secretary of State will release a final voter registration number in the next week or so. For reference, there were 15.1M registered voters in November 2016.

Historically, only the 15 counties with the most registered voters reported their daily in person and absentee voting totals, so we’ll continue to use that metric to compare turnout to past years. The first day of early voting includes all absentee ballots received up and on that day. In 2016, 576K people voted early on or by the first day. In 2018, 573K people voted on or by the first day. Both of these are records for presidential and gubernatorial general elections, respectively. We expect the final number for tomorrow to exceed those figures.

CCA (Lean Republican): The Houston Chronicle endorsed Judge Bert Richardson (R) for Place 3 and Democratic challengers Tina Clinton for Place 4 over Judge Kevin Yeary (R) and Brandon Birmingham for Place 9 over David Newell (R).

HD112 (Toss Up): Rep. Angie Chen Button’s (R-Garland) campaign released a new ad, “A Tale of Two Candidates,” contrasting Button and Democratic challenger Brandy Chambers.

HD113 (Lean Democratic): Republican challenger Will Douglas’s campaign released a new ad, “Prescription for Prosperity,” highlighting the pharmacist’s policy positions.

HD134 (Lean Democratic): The campaign of Rep. Sarah Davis (R-Houston), released a new ad, “Survivor,” focusing on health care.

HD135 (Lean Democratic): Republican challenger Justin Ray’s campaign released a new ad highlighting education issues and starring his wife.

HD148 open (Safe Democratic): The Houston Chronicle endorsed Democratic nominee Penny Morales Shaw.

HD150 (Likely Republican): The Houston Chronicle endorsed Rep. Valoree Swanson (R-Spring).

SEN: The Dallas Morning News endorsed U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R). The Beaumont Enterprise endorsed Democratic challenger M.J. Hegar.

CD3 (Lean Republican): The Dallas Morning News endorsed U.S. Rep. Van Taylor (R-Plano).

CD32 (Lean Democratic): The Dallas Morning News endorsed U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Dallas).

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