Texas exceeds 15 million registered voters for 1st time

Texas has set a new record for statewide registered voters – exceeding 15 million ahead of Election Day on Nov. 8.

Secretary of State Carlos Cascos announced Thursday that 15,015,700 Texans had registered ahead of the deadline, which expired two days prior. That’s roughly 78 percent of Texas’ estimated voting population of 19.3-plus million.

Early voting begins Oct. 24.

During 2012’s presidential election, Texas had more than 13.6 million registered voters, or about 75 percent of its voting age population. Many Texans can’t vote because they are under 18 or aren’t U.S. Citizens.

About 14.2 million Texans were registered for the presidential primaries in March, when the state set a record for Republican primary turnout.

Despite those increases, though, Texas generally has continued to lag behind national voter turnout rates.