Updated: With 3 days remaining, more than 200,000 Montgomery County voters have voted early

The record-high early voting turnout in Montgomery County increased Oct. 27, as the number of votes tallied through the first 14 days of this year's early voting window passed 200,000 for the first time.

From Oct. 13-27, a total of 200,542 ballots were cast in the county including 179,190 in person and 21,352 by mail, according to the county elections administration. That figure is nearly 28% higher than the final early voting turnout of 156,818 recorded by the Secretary of State's office in the 2016 presidential election, although previous early voting periods ran for five fewer days than this year's extended 17-day window.

With three days of early voting remaining, this year's early vote total is on track to surpass the number of all votes tallied in the county during the 2016 presidential election. The Secretary of State's 2016 canvass report shows a total of 204,632 voters cast ballots through early voting and Election Day that year, while the county elections administration recorded a slightly higher 208,308 total presidential votes on its 2016 canvass report.

The county has averaged more than 14,000 daily votes through day 14 of early voting this year, with more than 10,000 votes recorded on every day so far except Oct. 25-the sole Sunday early voting date this fall.

Overall turnout among the county's 369,796 registered voters reached a new early voting high of 54.23% Oct. 27. This is the second election to see an early voting turnout of more than 50% in Montgomery County, following 2016's 50.28% turnout through 12 days.

More than half of all registered Montgomery County voters have cast ballots through the first 13 days of early voting in the county this month.

The 51.18% turnout as of Oct. 26 passes the previous early voting turnout record of 50.28% set on day 12 of early voting in the 2016 presidential election. No other presidential election in the county since 2000 saw more than half of registered voters participate in early voting.

The new turnout high was in part made possible by this year's extended early voting period, which includes five additional days. Previous early voting windows for presidential elections in Texas ran for 12 days.

Through day 13 this year, a total of 189,261 ballots had been cast in the county. That figure is also an early voting record, as the county's population and registered voter pool have increased over previous presidential election years. The cumulative number of votes recorded every day during the current early voting window has been higher than all previous years.

Of the nearly 190,000 votes tallied so far, 88.85% were recorded in person and 11.15% were cast through mail ballots.

Early voting in the county remains open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through Oct. 30.

Posted Oct. 26 10:34 a.m.

More Montgomery County resident votes have been recorded during early voting Oct. 13-25-a total of 177,138-than in any previous early voting period for a presidential election.

With five days still remaining in this year's early voting period, that 12-day vote total is nearly 13% more than the 156,818 votes cast through the 12 total days of early voting in 2016, the county's previous high count.

This year's early voting schedule is the first to run for a total of 17 days rather than 12; five more days of early voting were added when Gov. Greg Abbott extended the early voting window in July due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the higher overall voter count, the 47.9% turnout among registered voters as of day 12 this year is several percentage points below the 50.28% turnout recorded by day 12 in 2016, although five additional voting days still remain this week. The early voting turnout percentage as of Oct. 25 is higher than all day 12 totals prior to 2016.

Heading into the final week of early voting, 156,891 county residents had voted in person and 20,247 absentee ballots had been counted. The 11.43% of voters using the ballot by mail option through Oct. 25 is more than in any previous early voting period for a presidential election in the county, and this year marked the first time that percentage was higher than 10% through 12 days of early voting.

This article comes from our ABC13 partners at Community Impact Newspapers.