More than 146,000 Montgomery County voters had cast ballots through nine days of early voting, and overall turnout reached just under 40% more than halfway through this year's early voting period. As of Oct. 22, a total of 146,144 votes had been tallied in the county including 127,011 in-person and 19,133 absentee ballots. Votes by mail continue to make up a higher portion of total votes than in any previous presidential election in the county at more than 13% as of Day Nine. Overall turnout among the county's nearly 370,000 registered voters sat at 39.52% through Day Nine, higher than the 37.25% recorded through nine days of early voting in 2016's presidential election or the 34.45% turnout recorded over the same period in 2012. Early voting this year will extend five extra days past the typical 12-day period, ending next week on Oct. 30.
Updated Oct. 22 9:54 a.m.
Early voting turnout in Montgomery County continues to tick upwards, as more than one-third of registered voters cast ballots as of Oct. 21. From Oct. 13-21, a total of 131,152 votes were tallied in the county including 112,817 in-person votes and 18,335 absentee ballots. Although the rate of absentee ballots is declining as more voters turn out to polling places in person—with an increase following the opening of two additional voting sites Oct. 19—the use of absentee ballots by nearly 14% of voters so far is the highest percentage recorded through eight days of early voting in a presidential election. Overall turnout continues to outpace previous presidential elections as well. Just under 35.5% of registered Montgomery County voters have participated in early voting so far, an increase over 2016's Day Eight cumulative turnout of 33.51% and the 31.09% recorded in 2012. Updated Oct. 21 10:42 a.m.
More than 113,000 Montgomery County residents have cast ballots through the seventh day of early voting in the county, as overall turnout surpassed Day Seven totals from all previous presidential election early voting periods. Through Oct. 20, 113,701 votes had been tallied across the county's nine regular polling places, elections administration and via absentee ballots. A total of 96,252 in-person votes and 17,449 absentee ballots had been recorded Oct. 13-20, with the more than 15% share of absentee ballots representing the highest proportion of Day Seven early votes in a presidential election. Turnout percentage among all registered voters in this election peaked on Oct. 20. Overall, 30.75% of the county's 369,796 registered voters had voted through Day Seven of the early voting period, passing the previous seventh-day early voting turnout high of 29.51% recorded in 2016. Updated Oct. 20 9:41 a.m.
More than one-quarter of Montgomery County's 369,796 registered voters have cast ballots through the first six days of early voting in the county. A total of 95,424 votes were tallied from Oct. 13-19, including 78,345 in-person votes and 17,079 absentee ballots. That includes more than 18,000 in-person votes cast on Oct. 19 alone—the highest daily in-person turnout of early voting so far—after county commissioners voted to open two additional polling places in the county beginning Monday. Together, the new locations brought in nearly 2,000 in-person voters Oct. 19.
Absentee ballots continue to be used at a higher rate than any previous early voting period in a presidential election, at just under 18% of all votes cast through Day Six. The 25.8% turnout among registered voters through the sixth day of early voting remains lower than the 27.55% overall turnout recorded through Day Six of early voting in 2016, while outpacing previous presidential elections.
Posted Oct. 19 11:10 a.m.
The first five days of early voting in Montgomery County saw more votes tallied than at the same point in any previous presidential election, but the proportion of registered voters casting ballots remains lower than the rates recorded in 2012 and 2016. Over the first week of early voting from Oct. 13-17, 76,039 votes were tallied across the county, a more than 5% jump from the 71,915 votes counted over the first five-day span of early voting in 2016.
The total includes 60,328 in-person votes, a lower in-person count than on the fifth day of 2016's early-voting period, and an absentee vote increase of nearly two-thirds over the same span four years ago with 15,711. The more than 20% of absentee ballots cast in the county so far is the highest percentage through five days of early voting in a presidential election. Despite the county's slightly higher voter count through Oct. 17, turnout as a percentage of registered voters is below 2012 and 2016 levels over the first five early-voting days. As of Oct. 17, 20.56% of the county's 369,796 registered voters had cast ballots, just below the cumulative turnout of 21.33% recorded by the fifth day of early voting in 2012 and the 23.06% turnout through the fifth day in 2016, according to historic information from the Texas secretary of state's office. The number of registered voters in the county is now more than 18% higher than it was in 2016 and just under 40% more than the 2012 count, according to the county's elections administration.
This year's extended early-voting period will continue through Oct. 30. A total of 10 regular polling places are now open throughout the county after the Commissioners Court approved the opening of two additional locations Oct. 19. The office of Elections Administrator Suzie Harvey in Conroe is also open for voters casting limited ballots, other special forms of early voting and dropping off mail ballots.
