John Oldham, Fort Bend County’s elections administrator, said in a July 5 email that the county experienced high voter turnout during the first week of early voting for the July 14 primary runoff election.

"Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Fort Bend County voters are turning out in record numbers,” he said in the email.

Out of 462,754 registered voters in Fort Bend County, 18,792 cast a ballot in person, according to the email. This is a 4.06% turnout rate.

“The next highest turnout among large counties in Texas is Travis [County] at 2.56%,” Oldham said in the email. “Fort Bend [County] also leads the state in total Republican turnout at 11,282, and is sixth in Democratic Party turnout at 7,510.”

Additionally, Fort Bend County has received 7,394 of 14,456 mail-in ballots. This brings the total turnout to 5.66% when added to the in-person ballots, according to the email.

“The county should easily eclipse its previous high turnout of 9.75% in the 2012 Primary Runoff,” Oldham said in the email. Early voting in Fort Bend County runs through July 10. Fort Bend County residents can vote early at any polling center between 7 a.m.-7 p.m. from July 6-10.

Check out a voter guide to Katy-area races here and a voter guide to Sugar Land and Missouri City races here.

For more information about voting in Fort Bend County, visit www.fortbendcountytx.gov/government/departments/county-services/elections-voter-registration or call 281-341-8670.