TEXAS, USA — Early voter turnout in Texas was far below what many folks expected heading into the midterms.
Turnout in Bexar County, for instance, was down about 20% from 2018.
And despite both parties devoting a great deal of attention to South Texas, the Hidalgo County Elections Administrator tells us turnout is down there too, about 25% lower than four years ago.
University of North Texas political professor Kimi Lynn King said she’s stunned by the low turnout, in part because of the huge mobilization effort undertaken by Democrats over the summer.
“It’s almost as if Independents finally made up their mind and those folks that weren’t sure whether they wanted to vote at all decided that maybe they went ahead and registered and that it just wasn’t going to be worth it,” King said on Inside Texas Politics.
King also told us it will be interesting to see what happens on Election Day.
“The mantra that was put out by the Republican Party was that it would be better for Republicans to wait and vote on Election Day. Democrats are, traditionally, the ones that turn out for Early Voting,” she said. “What’s not clear here is the impact that, perhaps, changes to the voting laws have had.”
Election Day is Nov. 8.