El Paso County experiences record turnout for midterm primary election

Voter turnout increased by 4.4 percent in El Paso County for the midterm primary elections, a record turnout, according to El Paso County Elections Administrator Lisa Wise.

“It’s a pretty big jump in just four years. I’m happy with the turnout. We always strive to continue to get more and more voters out,” Wise said. “We try to always say ‘hey let’s go up a couple percent from last time.'”

The bad news, however, is voter turnout is still lagging compared to other large counties in Texas.

There are 440,238 registered voters in El Paso County, and only 67,287 people voted. That’s a turnout of 15.3 percent.

“I’d love to be in the 20s for a midterm primary. I think 20 is attainable,” Wise said. “If we can go up a couple percentage points each election, then we’re happy.”

Here’s a look at voter turnout in El Paso County for the last five midterm primary elections:

2018: 15.3% 2014: 10.93% 2010: 13.83% 2006: 13.94% 2002: 9.8 %

Wise told ABC-7 her department has focused on promoting early voting. Sometimes, Wise said, a voter might simply be too busy to cast a ballot on election day.

“Early voting has become really important. We have people who say, ‘I’ll never go back to my polling place again.’ It’s just so much easier to vote anywhere (during early voting) instead of not knowing for sure what’s going to happen on election day,” Wise said, “What will the weather be like on election day? What if my kids get sick? What if my car breaks down?”

40,000 more Democrats than Republicans went to the polls in El Paso County on Tuesday.

“I think it was really exciting to see the turnout, not just in El Paso, where we broke records, but also statewide,” said Iliana Holguin, the chair of the El Paso County Democratic Party. “I think it’s a really good indication of what’s to come in the November general election.”

“I’m glad to see that there is a growth. I’d like to see more growth, obviously on the Republican side, and I think that will be coming because I think there’s some concerns about what the Democrats are doing,” said Adolpho Telles, the chair of the El Paso County Republican Party.