Early voting counts this year so far—from Oct. 21–Oct. 30—show 80,959 votes cast either in person or by mail, up from the 48,463 cast at this time in 2011. The vote count has already surpassed the total number of early votes cast in 2011, which was 64,993.

More notably, vote counts for people voting in person do not appear to have been negatively affected by new state laws requiring in-person voters to show a photo ID. Records from 2011 show 33,161 in person votes at this point last year, slightly more than half the 61,609 people who have already voted in person this year. At this point in 2009, 45,574 people voted in person.

Roughly 1.95 million people are registered to vote in Harris County, making it the third largest voting district in the nation. Roughly 1.87 million were registered in 2011.

Nov. 1 is the last day to participate in early voting. The opportunity to vote by mail has already passed. Polls will be open from 7 a.m.–7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5. For a list of early voting and Election Day voting locations and hours in Harris County go to www.harrisvotes.org.