Election turnout: Harris County nearly breaks record on the 1st day polls open for Texans
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Early voting continues this week for Texans, and on the first day of voting, Harris County fell just short of breaking an all-time record.
More than 125,000 people cast their ballots on Monday.
In comparison, about 128,000 people voted on day one of early voting in 2020. That number was over 67,000 in 2016.
The Harris County Clerk's Office said it expects a historic turn-out and that election officials are prepared.
According to the Texas Secretary of State website, about 16,500 people voted in person on Monday in Montgomery County, while in Fort Bend County, 30,466 voted.
Brazoria County had approximately 16,660 in-person voters, and Galveston County had just over 17,000.
SEE 2020 REPORT: These Harris County areas helped with record-breaking turnout
Early voting up, key issues drive turnout in Texas
Most Texans have decided who they will choose for president, U.S. Senator, congress, local races, and propositions. But what are the primary issues driving them to the polls?
New data from the UT Austin, Texas Politics Project surveyed likely voters the first week of October. They asked voters an open-ended question about the key issues presidential candidates should focus on, and the economy and inflation topped the list.
But when asked about their own top motivating issues, Republicans and Democrats split. Though both still emphasized economics, other topics were of key importance.
"Even though there is this dynamic in which there's a lot of attention on the economy when we ask voters trust more in the Presidential race on the Economy, Trump leads by about 10," TPP's Director James Henson said. "But he leads more on immigration and border security, and then on the Democratic side, while Democrats are also paying attention to the economy and prices, which is an issue for Kamala Harris and Democrats."
Henson said that for Democrats, another issue is top-line.
"The second runner up in that among Democrats is abortion, and on that issue, Texans trust Harris more than Trump by a very wide margin," he said, "That includes a small but significant minority of Republicans who say they trust Harris more. This is why we're hearing Republicans in the State. Talk about the economy and border security, and we're here and not want to talk about abortion very much, as we saw in the Senate debate, and Democrats talking a lot more about abortion. It's good for mobilization, and it's good for a potential crossover vote. At least, that's the theory of the case."
Political scientists suggest the winning issue is likely a combination of key topics that will lead to success on Election Day-just two weeks away. But early voting is already underway. More than 843,000 Texans cast their votes on Monday, Oct. 21, the first day of early voting.
That's up from 595,000 four years ago. While that tells us engagement is high and people are interested, it's hard to know what it tells us about the outcome. Even in Harris County, which is likely to favor Democrats, early vote totals don't necessarily indicate an advantage one way or the other.
"In the past, we've not seen any trends in partisan voting," Rice University political science professor Bob Stein said. "We don't find Democrats or Republicans more likely to vote in person early. That's very different than early mail-in voting. The biggest fact here seems to be when candidates and parties choose to use early voting as part of their campaign and start pulling out, encouraging people to vote. But I've looked at the first day, and I don't see any evidence that there is a statistically significant difference in the precincts that are voting early in terms of their partisan vote in the past for Biden and Trump in 2020."
Early voting runs through Friday, Nov. 1. There are 18.6 million registered voters in Texas, up 700,000 since the March primaries just seven months ago.
For updates on this story, follow Tom Abrahams on Facebook, X and Instagram.
RELATED: What you need to know for Election Day
