Out of the top 12 highest populated counties, Williamson County led with a 62.09 percent turnout of the 336,148 registered voters, the county said in a news release. The next highest percentage of voter turnout was Travis County at 61.33 percent, the release said.
“This surpasses any other mid-term election we have had regarding percentage of registered voters voting,” stated Christopher Davis, elections administrator for Williamson County. “It surpasses the total number of voters in the 2016 Presidential Election.”
The high voter interest led to an increase in voter turnout, but county officials also attribute turnout to a combination of voting encouragement and convenience initiatives.
Some initiatives include the county's interactive polling place map that offered wait times and a map of early voting and Election Day locations.
The county also promoted early voting through paid Facebook posts to users in Williamson County. The county would “boost” these posts to Facebook users near that mobile location.
Also, the mobile voting center traveled around to more rural parts of the county and only stayed at most locations for just one day.
The county's Vote Center policy, which allows voters to vote at any polling location in the county, looked to make voting more convenient.
“Vote Centers are a tremendous convenience to voters that may work far from their residence to provide voting options to or from work,” Davis said.
Find more 2018 election coverage at communityimpact.com/vote
12 Texas counties with highest voter turnout
County: Bexar
Total turnout: 548,412
Percent turnout: 49.64 percent
County: Collin
Total turnout: 355,694
Percent turnout: 61.15 percent
County: Dallas
Total turnout: 727,371
Percent turnout: 54.33 percent
County: Denton
Total turnout: 295,676
Percent turnout: 58.73 percent
County: El Paso
Total turnout: 203,157
Percent turnout: 44.44 percent
County: Fort Bend
Total turnout: 256,949
Percent turnout: 59.56 percent
County: Harris
Total turnout: 1,209,358
Percent turnout: 52.41 percent
County: Hidalgo
Total turnout: 152,950
Percent turnout: 42.14 percent
County: Montgomery
Total turnout: 191,548
Percent turnout: 57.32 percent
County: Tarrant
Total turnout: 630,919
Percent turnout: 55.61 percent
County: Travis
Total turnout: 483,050
Percent turnout: 61.33 percent
County: Williamson
Total turnout: 208,704
Percent turnout: 62.09 percent
