More than 200,000 fewer Texans participated in early voting during the 2024 primary election compared to the 2020 primary – despite an overall uptick in the number of registered voters in the state.
About 10% of registered voters, or 1.8 million people, cast a ballot during early voting, which ran from Feb. 20 to March 1. That marked a significant decline from the last presidential primary election in 2020, where 12.6% of registered voters participated early.
Voters across all 254 counties are choosing Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential election, as well as for representatives in Congress and the Texas Legislature. Lower-level judges and county offices are also on the ballot.
Democratic turnout accounts for the entirety of the decline in early voting numbers – Republican participation increased slightly compared to 2020 but not by enough to counter the sharp decrease in votes cast early in the Democratic primary. About 1.2 million votes were cast in the Republican primary and about 600,000 were cast in the Democratic primary.
Voters can also cast a ballot on election day which is on March 5.
The decline in early voter turnout was most pronounced in the state’s 28 border counties, where the share of registered voters who voted early dipped from 12.7% percent in 2020 to 9.1% this year. Turnout declined by similar margins in the state’s most populous, urban counties of Harris, Bexar, Dallas and Travis, where only 8.1% of voters turned out compared to an 11.4% turnout in 2020. Similar declines occurred in the state’s fast growing suburbs of Tarrant, Fort Bend, Collin, Denton, Hays and Williamson counties that together account for 3.75 million registered voters.
Meanwhile, turnout in the 216 mostly rural counties that historically vote strongly Republican remained most similar to 2020 and had the smallest dip in participation rates, about 1.5 percentage points.
Experts attribute the decline to voter apathy and a shortage of competitive races, especially for Democrats.
Source: Texas Tribune BY ANDREW PARK AND POOJA SALHOTRA
Photo: A ‘vote here’ sign is located inside of the Travis County Civil and Family Courts Facility on Mar. 1, 2024. Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune