Fewer Texans – especially in the state’s largest cities – voted early this year compared to 2020, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of state data.
The video above is from a previous report.
More than 9 million Texans either voted in person during the two weeks of early voting or returned their absentee ballots by Nov. 1, state data shows. That’s 48.6% of all registered voters. In 2020, 9.7 million, or 57.2% of registered voters, went to the polls or turned in their ballot during early voting.
The lag is largely attributed to a dramatic decline in mail-in voting. About 8.7 million Texans voted early in both 2020 and 2024. However, 937,870 Texans voted by mail in 2020 while 347,652 voted by mail this year.
Current data is not final and can be incomplete. Counties can accept mail ballots until Wednesday. And each county is responsible for self-reporting, and in some instances, counties do not share their …