Early voting has begun across Texas for the March 3 primary election and continues through February 28. Turnout is generally up for the Democratic primary over four years ago, with what appears to be record-setting numbers in Harris, Travis, Denton, Hidalgo, Montgomery and Williamson Cos. Republican turnout is more mixed compared to four years ago.
We should have a more complete picture sometime tomorrow (Wednesday), but here are the preliminary numbers from some of the state’s most populous counties:
- Harris Co.: 18,390 Democrats in person and by mail (+91% from 2016), 18,301 Republicans in person and by mail (+37%). Both are easily new records for the first day of early voting.
- Dallas Co.: 4,003 Democrats in person (+38% from 2016), 2,311 Republicans in person (-19% from 2016).
- Tarrant Co.: 3,061 Democrats in person (+34%), 3,852 Republicans in person (-17%) | 6,509 Democrats in person and by mail (+19%), 6,466 Republicans in person and by mail (-18%).
- Bexar Co.: 5,022 Democrats in person (+49%), 3,317 Republicans in person (+21%)
- Travis Co.: 7,531 Democrats in person and by mail (+43%, appears to be an all-time high for day one of Democratic primary voting), 1,945 Republicans in person and by mail (-8%).
- Denton Co.: 2,609 Democrats in person and by mail (+161%, appears to be a day one record), 4,228 Republicans in person and by mail (+11%, appears to be a day one record).
- Hidalgo Co.: 6,851 Democrats in person and by mail (+28%, appears to a day one record), 737 Republicans in person and by mail (+11%, appears to be a day one record).
- Montgomery Co.: 1,126 Democrats in person and by mail (+124%, appears to be a day one record), 3,891 Republicans in person and by mail (+18%).
- Williamson Co.: 1,913 Democrats in person and by mail (+166%, appears to be a day one record), 1,640 Republicans in person and by mail (-35%).
- Brazoria Co.: 1,032 Democrats in person and by mail (+335%), 3,745 Republicans in person and by mail (+253%) – These huge jumps make us doubt the 2016 numbers we have are accurate.
- Nueces Co.: 1,613 Democrats in person and by mail (-6%), 823 Republicans in person and by mail (+6%).
We expect to have data from most counties by sometime tomorrow (Wednesday).
Voter Registrations: A record 16.2M Texans are registered to vote, an increased of 104K from January and nearly 250K since the November 2019 general election. Still, an estimated 2.26M Texans are eligible to vote but have not registered to do so.
HD132: Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) endorsed former Rep. Mike Schofield (R-Katy) for the Republican nomination for what would be a rematch against Rep. Gina Calanni (D-Katy).
SEN: U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) endorsed Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez for the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R). Rep. Lina Ortega (D-El Paso) endorsed Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas).
©2020 Texas Election Source LLC
