Monday was the first day of early voting in Texas, however, the number of voters who cast a ballot on the first day of early voting suggests enthusiasm is lower than in the 2018 midterms, particularly in North Texas.
Turnout for the first day of early voting in Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant counties was more than 35% lower than in the last midterm election, according to the secretary of state’s website.
A total of 98,190 voters cast their ballot on Monday from the four counties, well below the 153,739 votes cast on the first day of early voting in 2018.
Statewide, the difference was not as significant, with 475,300 ballots cast on Monday, just below the 476,729 ballots cast in 2018, according to data retrieved from the Texas Secretary of State.
Through Wednesday, October 25, the number of Texans statewide that have voted early has eclipsed one million.
In Dallas County, 69,882, or just 4.9% of the county’s registered voters have voted; 40,493, or 3.2% of Tarrant County’s registered voters have cast a ballot; 48,828, or 7% of registered voters in Collin County have voted; 43,103, or 7.1% of Denton County’s registered voters have cast a ballot.
Turnout can define an election, according to Joshua Blank, a research director with the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas in Austin.
“In a place like Texas with a large, growing, diverse and young population, turnout is more important than ever in determining the ultimate results,” he told Fox 4.
Blank cautioned that it is still too early to decipher whether overall turnout will be low, noting that 2018’s midterm turnout was unusually high.
“We had a rate that was similar to presidential elections in that year driven by, really in many ways, President Donald Trump leading Democrats to turnout at extremely high rates,” he said.
Blank does believe that voter enthusiasm is lower this year than in 2018.
“When you look at the polling and you look at attitudes towards election, and you look at enthusiasm, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a decline in turnout,” he said.
Blank suggested that a high turnout benefits everyone as it increases the chances that a majority of voters get the result they want, regardless of their party.
“Ultimately, high turnout elections tend to be high turnout elections for everybody,” Blake said. “It’s not as though one party turns out at really high rates and the other party just stays home in most cases because the other party counter mobilizes.”
Early voting will run through November 4 for the November 8 election. To find your polling place or check your voter registration status visit the secretary of state’s website.
