With one day left of early voting, more than 6.4 million ballots had been cast, breaking the 2018 record, when 5.5 million Texans voted early.
By Aarón Torres, Austin Bureau
AUSTIN – Texans didn’t wait until Election Day to vote.
More than 6.4 million ballots were cast through the end of the day Thursday, far outpacing the state’s previous record for early voting in a non-presidential election year. In 2018, 5.5 million Texans voted early in person.
The data is not broken down by party and does not include mail-in ballots. Friday is the last day of the early-voting period before Tuesday’s Election Day.
The heavy turnout comes as Texans decide on a closely watched Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico, along with contests for governor and other statewide offices. Texas has seen an increase of 3 million registered voters since 2018, and now has more than 19 million registered voters.
But it’s clear that the main driver of this year’s turnout has been the Talarico-Paxton battle, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.
More than $560 million has been spent on combined ad spending and reservations across the primary, runoff and general elections, according to AdImpact, which tracks political advertising. It’s now the most expensive Senate race in history.
“There’s no doubt that competition drives turnout, and we’ve seen this is the most competitive race in a decade, if not longer,” said Rottinghaus.
Rottinghaus said he could see as many as 10 million ballots cast in this year’s midterm elections, a number that would shatter the previous record of 8.3 million votes cast in 2018.
The Texas Secretary of State’s office declined an interview request with Robert Howden, who Gov. Greg Abbott appointed as the state’s top election official in July after Jane Nelson resigned.
His office on Tuesday issued a news release where Howden asked Texans to be confident in the state’s election process.
“Every election in Texas goes through a proven audit process and election officials across the state are working to help make sure every eligible vote is counted,” Howden said.
Both Democrats and Republicans have been mobilizing voters in the final weeks of their campaigns. Talarico and Paxton have been crisscrossing the state, as well as Abbott and his Democratic challenger, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have also gotten involved. Trump visited Texas three times in October and Vance was in Weatherford on Thursday, as North Texas has been a key battleground during this election cycle.
A key factor in deciding the election will be suburban voters. Areas like Collin County, which has seen dramatic growth in the last decade and shifting voting pattern, could decide races.
Through Thursday, more than 329,000 votes had been cast early in Collin County — breaking its 2018 record, when about 271,000 voted early. The county’s record for most votes cast in a non-presidential election year is about 366,000 — set in 2022.
Kaleb Breaux, the elections administrator for Collin County, said voting has leveled off slowly throughout the early voting period. The slowdown has surprised him a bit, but he’s still happy with the overall results.
“Just continue to show up,” he said to voters.
Polls on Friday close at 7 p.m. Polls on Election Day are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Austin Bureau
Aarón is an Austin native who writes about immigration and state politics. He is a University of Texas graduate, Spanish is his first language and is a dual citizen of Mexico and United States.
