El Paso leads state in early voting turnout growth

El Paso had the greatest voter turnout increase among the state’s most populous counties in the first day of early voting, according to data from the Texas Secretary of State’s Office.

A record 23,449 El Pasoans cast ballots on Monday’s first day of early voting, a 426 percent increase over the first day of early voting in the 2014 midterm election. El Paso didn’t reach 23,000 votes in that election until the ninth day of early voting. The first-day total also was more than 4,000 votes above the number on the first day of the 2016 presidential election voting in El Paso.

The Secretary of State’s figures show strong turnout growth among Texas’ 16 most populous counties compared to 2014, with El Paso the clear standout. The second-largest turnout growth was 312 percent in Collin County, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb. Williamson County outside of Austin grew by 182 percent.

Texas’ two other large border counties, Hidalgo and Cameron, showed turnout growth of 98 percent and 143 percent, respectively.

Overall, the 16 largest counties saw almost 584,000 votes cast on the first day of early voting, an increase of 138 percent over 2014.

The Senate race between El Paso Democrat Beto O’Rourke and Republican incumbent Ted Cruz is the biggest driver of the increased turnout. President Trump came to Houston on Monday to campaign for Cruz, and O’Rourke spent much of the day campaigning in Texas’ largest city, which saw more than 115,000 people vote Monday, 83 percent above 2014 levels.

Here’s a look at turnout in Texas’ 16 most populous counties in the first day of early voting this year compared to the first day in 2014.

Day 1 early voting totals for largest Texas counties

Registered voters

2014

2018

Change

Harris

2,338,460

61,735

115,601

87.3%

Dallas

1,335,313

29,217

81,723

179.7%

Tarrant

1,122,597

29,391

61,429

109.0%

Bexar

1,098,257

26,378

45,170

71.2%

Travis

775,090

17,094

47,405

177.3%

Collin

579,893

10,312

42,511

312.2%

Denton

497,490

9,582

24,695

157.7%

El Paso

455,992

4,457

23,449

426.1%

Fort Bend

431,832

10,540

27,132

157.4%

Hidalgo

361,562

9,932

19,652

97.9%

Montgomery

333,488

8,538

20,158

136.1%

Williamson

331,985

7,907

23,496

197.2%

Galveston

212,630

5,885

15,836

169.1%

Brazoria

207,446

5,332

15,020

181.7%

Cameron

206,966

3,803

9,223

142.5%

Nueces

205,176

4,882

11,446

134.5%

Total

10,494,177

244,985

583,946

138.4%

Source: Texas Secretary of State