Texas early voter turnout in this general election is up from the last two presidential elections. According to the Secretary of State’s office, 46 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the 15 largest counties.
Early voter turnout was 39 percent in 2012 and 42 percent in 2008.
Collin County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet said this has been the strangest election out of the seven he’s administered.
“Everything about this election is different, the turnout has been surprisingly high, from day one of early voting which is not usually the case,” Sherbet said. “It usually starts slow and builds towards the end.”
Collin County had the highest percentage of early voters in the state – 56 percent cast ballots over the two-week period. Almost a million voters cast ballots in the early voting period in Harris County, but that was a smaller percentage of its voting population - about 43 percent.
Though the county’s seen a population boom since the last election, Sherbet says a record number of registered voters – and high interest in this election – contributed to the high turnout. Early voting tends to make up the bulk of overall turnout in an election.
Early Voting By County
Collin County
- 2016 – 56.24 percent
- 2012 – 48.38 percent
- 2008 – 51.75 percent
Denton County
- 2016 – 51.62 percent
- 2012 – 43.93 percent
- 2008 – 48.61 percent
Tarrant County
- 2016 – 47.81 percent
- 2012 – 42.97 percent
- 2008 – 47.93 percent
Dallas County
- 2016 – 42.70 percent
- 2012 – 37.70 percent
- 2008 – 42.05 percent
