More than 4.5 million Texans cast ballots in the first seven days of early voting in the Nov. 3 election, state data shows.
From Oct. 19-25, 23.8% of Texas' 19 million registered voters had voted in person or by mail, according to voter turnout data submitted by counties and reported by the secretary of state. This is slightly below early voting turnout at the same point in 2018 and several percentage points above turnout in 2022.
Registered voters can visit any polling place in their county through Oct. 30, the last day of early voting. Election Day is Nov. 3. Texans can read Q&As with dozens of candidates, find local polling sites and print a custom sample ballot at communityimpact.com/voter-guide.
What you need to know
Turnout this fall follows voter enthusiasm during the March primary election, when more Texans voted early than in recent primaries. In total, about 4.5 million people—or one-fourth of voters registered at the time—cast ballots in Texas' March election, setting a primary turnout record.
Some local election officials have braced for higher-than-usual turnout in this year's midterm election, which is marked by a high-profile, multimillion-dollar U.S. Senate race at the top of the ballot.
According to an early voting report from Derek Ryan, a GOP consultant and data analyst:
35% of ballots cast through Oct. 25 were by people who previously voted in a Texas Democratic primary and have never voted in a Republican primary.
33% of votes through Oct. 25 came from Texans who had previously voted in a Republican primary and had no Democratic primary voting history.
23% of voters had never voted in a Texas primary, but had general election history.
6% of voters had never voted in a Texas election.
4% of voters had a history of voting in both parties' primaries.
Slightly more Democratic voters turned out in March than Republican voters, with over 2.3 million Texans voting in the Democratic primary and nearly 2.2 million people voting in the Republican primary, Community Impact reported. This year's primary was the first time since 2020 that more Democratic voters cast ballots than Republicans, per state data.
"There’s just general excitement amongst Democrats, and also anger,” Katherine Fischer, executive director of the Democratic Texas Majority PAC, told Community Impact in February. “Texans are, like everyone across the country, really frustrated and concerned about what the Trump administration is doing, what Texas Republicans are doing, and this is their first chance at a statewide level to weigh in."
Republicans currently hold all statewide offices on the ballot, and no Democrat or third-party candidate has won a statewide office in Texas since 1994, election records show.
Looking back
In 2018, when Democrat Beto O'Rourke lost to Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz by less than three percentage points, 24.3% of registered voters cast ballots in the first seven days of the early voting period. About 23.8% of registered voters have visited the polls so far this year, slightly below 2018 rates.
There was no U.S. Senate race on the ballot in 2022, when nearly 16% of registered voters cast ballots in the first week of early voting. About 29% of registered voters cast ballots during the same period in 2024, when President Donald Trump was elected to a second term and Cruz beat Democrat Colin Allred by more than 8 percentage points.
