Nearly 52% of registered voters in Travis County cast an early ballot

Central Texas voters turned out for early voting at a rate just shy of the turnout seen in the 2020 election – the last time a presidential race was on the ballot.

That is a little skewed since the early voting period in 2020 was extended beyond the normal two-week period because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Travis County Clerk Dyana Limon-Mercado said the county turnout is about on par with the 2016 presidential election.

By the end of Friday, about 480,000 people – nearly 52 percent of Travis County’s registered voters – had cast a ballot. Most of those votes were cast in person, while about 17,000 were mail-in ballots.

By comparison, in 2020 about 64 percent of registered voters, or about 550,000 people, cast a ballot early during that extended early voting period, according to data from the Texas Secretary of State’s Office. In 2016, about 51 percent of registered voters headed to the polls early.

Limon-Mercado expects the county to process between 100,000 and 200,000 voters on Election Day.

“Voters should expect to wait in a line, but anyone in line by 7 p.m. will be able to have their vote cast,” she said. “My office remains committed to making voting accessible and easy for all eligible voters in Travis County. … We’ve done our best to ensure there are not any barriers to participating in this election.”

The Travis County Republican Party last week filed a lawsuit alleging the county is not following bipartisan staffing rules at polling sites. The 3rd Court of Appeals dismissed the lawsuit last week, but the Travis County GOP appealed to the Texas Supreme Court.

On Monday, Justice Jimmy Blacklock along with two other justices ruled that the county’s actions “might be problematic,” but there is not enough information to substantiate the GOP’s claims just hours before Election Day.

“The evidentiary record it has provided to this Court lacks the degree of clarity and specificity that would allow this Court to know with certainty what exactly has transpired and what practical effect this kind of last-minute judicial intervention would have for election day in Travis County,” the ruling states.

Limon-Mercado said her office “was not going to let this lawsuit and these other sort of political distractions from the Republican Party detour our efforts to administer our election.”

“We have great teams of bipartisan election workers,” Limon-Mercado said. “Not only at the poll sites, but here in our office, at our central count process, ensuring the integrity of our election and that all election laws are followed.”

For more information about what races are on the ballot in Travis County, make sure to check out KUT’s Travis County voter guide.

Hays County

Hays County officials saw a record turnout during the first week of early voting, but turnout slowed down during the second week.

A total of 103,988 voters have cast their ballots during early voting, which includes in-person and mail-in ballots. That’s about 56 percent of registered voters, an 8 percent decrease from turnout in the 2020 presidential election.

Although the turnout percentage is lower, Hays County’s voter registration increased by about 22 percent since 2020, and Elections Administrator Jennifer Doinoff said it was due to population growth in the region.

Hays County saw an additional 5,700 early votes cast this year than in 2020.

For more information about what races are on the ballot in Hays County, make sure to check out KUT’s Hays County voter guide.

Williamson County

More than half of registered voters in Williamson County cast their ballot during early voting.

By the end of Friday, nearly 59 percent of the suburban county’s 447,711 registered voters had cast their ballot. Most of those votes were cast in person. Just over 9,000 ballots were mailed in.

That’s about 10 percent shy of the early voting turnout in Williamson County during the last presidential election in 2020.

“I think the enthusiasm, right now, is really being driven in the presidential race, and also in our local sheriff’s race,” Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell told KUT. “We have an incumbent (Democratic) sheriff, and he has a Republican challenger.”

Gravell said the county plans to open 82 polling locations for voters Tuesday on Election Day. That’s more than triple the 25 polling locations the county opened for early voting.

“You literally will be able to walk in multiple locations (Tuesday) where there is no wait,” he said.

For more information about what races are on the ballot in Williamson County, make sure to check out KUT’s Williamson County voter guide.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Voters in line at 7 p.m. can still cast a ballot. Wearing political attire such as hats, T-shirts and buttons into a polling site is not allowed.

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.