Travis County’s day-one voter turnout highest since 2012

More Travis County residents turned out on the first day of early voting than in each of the three previous presidential elections, according to the county clerk’s office. More than 46,000 residents cast their ballots on Monday.
Four years ago, 35,873 county voters cast ballots on the first day of early voting — around a 30% increase from Monday. The total was nearly identical in 2016 when 35,999 voters showed up to the polls on day one. In 2012, 16,385 voted on the first day.
More than 44,000 people moved to Travis County between April 2020 and July 2023, but population growth may not be the only driver of increased early voter turnout in this year’s historic election.
The 46,646 residents who cast ballots on Monday represent 5% of the county’s 926,313 registered voters, according to data from the Texas Secretary of State’s office. (Including mail-in ballots, the share is closer to 6%.) In 2020, first-day turnout represented 4.19% of the county’s then-854,577 registered voters.
Other major Texas counties, including Bexar and Tarrant, saw a notable increase in first-day turnout compared to the 2020 election, according to the secretary of state’s office. But the state’s two most populous counties, Harris and Dallas, saw a decrease from 2020.
Williamson County saw a significant bump in turnout though a spokeswoman said the county “cannot say with 100% certainty that this is the largest percentage of early voters for the first day of early voting.”
Statewide, 870,721 people voted Monday compared to 755,136 in 2020, according to data from the Texas Secretary of State’s office.