Early Voting Recap: Texans Set a Midterm Record, With Big Jumps in Harris County and Among Younger Voters

“Harris County voters are making history,” Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth said.

They are, and so are the rest of their neighbors. More than 7.4 million Texans cast early ballots through the close of in-person voting October 30 — about 38.9% of the state’s record 19,041,684 registered voters — according to preliminary Secretary of State figures.

Early voting opened statewide October 19 and set single-day records on the first day, when Dallas County recorded more than 76,000 in-person votes and Harris County exceeded 105,000. By October 27, more than 4.2 million Texans had voted, about 22% of registered voters, running ahead of comparable points in both the 2022 and 2018 midterms.

It capped a rocky registration season. A Texas Department of Public Safety software update in October 2025 seeded a voter-registration backlog of at least 500,000 records, county election administrators learned just before the October 5 registration deadline that they faced that backlog, and county officials cleared it on October 14, with applications submitted or postmarked by the deadline remaining valid. Texas surpassed 19 million registered voters for the first time before the midterm, up about 400,000 from the 2024 presidential election and 1.4 million from 2022.

That early-vote total passes Texas’s modern-era midterm early-voting record, set in 2018. The numbers show how much the state has shifted in eight years:

• 2018: Just under 6 million Texans voted early, roughly 38% of the 15.8 million registered voters at the time.
• 2022: About 5.5 million early votes were cast.
• 2026: Through the close of in-person voting October 30, the running tally stood at 7,410,631 ballots, or 38.9% of 19,041,684 registered voters.

Who Showed Up, by Age

Older Texans still made up the largest share of early voters, though their share slipped slightly while younger voters gained ground.

• 65 and older: 36.0% of early and absentee ballots through October 29, down from 37.2% in 2022.
• 18–29: 10.7% of early and absentee votes, up from 8.2% in 2022.
• Under 45: About 30% of early voters as of November 1, by one tracker’s count.

The age gap was sharp in El Paso County, where two-thirds of early voters were 45 or older. Nearly half of registered voters 65 and older there voted early, while fewer than one in five registered voters under 30 did.

Who Showed Up, by Community

One tracker pegged the early electorate at approximately 53% white, 25% Hispanic, and 10% Black, with women making up about 54% of early voters.

Hispanic turnout showed notable movement. During the first week of early voting, Hispanic voters made up 18% of early ballots — one point above the comparable 2024 point and two points above 2022. Nearly 1.8 million Hispanic Texans cast early ballots, including many who had not voted in recent elections, according to NBC News. Late gains in early turnout appeared concentrated in more diverse urban counties and among Hispanic and Black voters, strategists told the Texas Tribune.

The County Picture

Harris County closed early voting with 1,081,010 ballots counted — its highest midterm total on record and roughly 39% of registered voters. That nearly matches the county’s entire 2022 election turnout, Election Day included.

Other large counties posted big numbers too:

• Dallas: roughly 600,000 early ballots
• Tarrant: about 572,000
• Bexar: about 503,000
• Travis: more than 427,000

Compared with 2018, Harris was up about a quarter, and Dallas, Tarrant, and Bexar counties were up by double digits. Suburban counties including Fort Bend, Montgomery, Williamson, and Denton posted even larger increases, and Hidalgo County was up nearly half.

The split between urban and rural turnout was wide. Democratic strategist Matt Angle said the early vote was meeting a Democratic benchmark of rural voters accounting for less than 25% of ballots cast.

If You Haven’t Voted Yet

In-person early voting is now closed. Your next chance is Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, when polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Anyone in line at 7:00 p.m. may still vote.

Bring one of seven accepted photo IDs:

• Texas driver license
• Texas Election Identification Certificate
• Texas personal ID card
• Texas handgun license
• U.S. military ID
• U.S. citizenship certificate
• U.S. passport

You can also sign a Reasonable Impediment Declaration with a supporting document if you don’t have one of those IDs.

Mailing your ballot? It must arrive by 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, or be postmarked by 7:00 p.m. that day and arrive by 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 4.