Small percentage of Texans pick who is on the ballot

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- It's worth remembering that four years ago, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state added an extra week of early voting.

So, it may be difficult to compare apples to apples when it's all over. But when we look at the first seven days, we can get a good idea of the trend.

In 2020, more than 4.7 million of the nearly 17 million registered voters voted early, just under 28% of all registered voters in Texas.

This year, more than 18.6 million registered voters are registered, and more than 5.4 million have already voted during the first seven days. That's a modest increase over four years ago, given that nearly one in three Texans have already cast their ballots.

Texas still has another five days of early voting numbers to consider, including Monday's tally, but the state's turnout is trending toward a healthy level for this year's general election.

As for another metric, we looked at two different groups of Texans to give a sense of how many people are deciding who wins elections in Texas.

At first glance, the voter numbers might look good.

In 2016, nearly 60% of registered voters cast ballots in the presidential election.

In 2020, the number jumped to more than two-thirds of registered voters who went to the polls.

However, the percentages shrink if one looks at different data sets, one which compares the votes against the total voting age population of Texas.

In 2016 it was 46%, and in 2020 it was 52%.

According to the secretary of state's office, the "voting age population" is an estimate based on the census and may include adults who are not eligible to vote.

However, it still gives a sense to those not engaged in the process.

A look at these numbers reveals how few people in the state actually decide who is on the November ballot.

In this cycle, in the March primary, just 10.59% of the voting-age population cast a ballot in the Republican primary.

Roughly one in 10 Texans pick GOP nominees. On the Democratic side, less than 5% of the voting-age population cast a primary ballot, which means less than one in 20 Texans determined the Democratic nominees you'll see on your ballot when you vote.

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