In the first week of early voting in Travis County, more than 200,000 registered voters cast their ballots.
The 230,056 early votes tallied are more than half the total number of early votes cast in the 2016 general election, according to Travis County election results. There are 11 more days of early voting left before early polls close Oct. 30.
According to Travis County election totals, more than 31% of the county’s 855,175 registered voters have already cast ballots in this election.
To the north, Williamson County is reporting similar numbers. The county has reported that in the first week of early voting, which began Oct. 13, a total of 120,788 registered voters cast early ballots.
Between early voters, provisional ballots, limited ballots and mail-in votes, Williamson County has reported that 37.36% of its registered voters have already voted in this election.
Williamson County early voters look to be on track to outpace the turnout in the 2016 general election, when 152,841 early votes were cast in-person, according to county election results.
Three Williamson County polling locations—the Brushy Creek Community Center, the Cedar Park Public Library and the Williamson County Jester Annex—have each reported more than 10,000 early voters as of Oct. 19, according to county election returns.
Despite the high volume of voters, Williamson County Elections Administrator Chris Davis said lines are moving well across the county’s early voting locations.
“Voting has gone smoothly at these high volume polling places,” Davis said in an email to Community Impact Newspaper.
In Travis County, nearly 10,000 voters have cast ballots at the Pflugerville ISD Rock Gym—the highest vote total reported for one location so far. The Ben Hur Shrine Center in North Austin is the only other polling location in Travis County to report more than 9,000 votes as of Oct. 19.
In all, there are 37 early voting locations in Travis County. On the last three days of early voting, Oct. 28-30, the county will keep just six early voting sites open. Those sites are the Ben Hur Shrine Center; the Millennium Youth Complex; the PfISD Rock Gym; the Austin Central Library; and the two suites at Southpark Meadows open for voters, which have reported a combined 14,761 early votes cast.
Heading into the second week of early voting, Travis County is reporting wait times of more than 20 minutes at some of its early voting polling places, including a couple of sites with wait times of more than 51 minutes, according to the county’s election site. Travis County voters can check wait times at polls here.
In Williamson County, most early voting poll sites are reporting wait times of fewer than 15 minutes. Williamson County voters can check wait times at polls here.
