Texas early voting numbers a wake-up call for GOP as Democrats double their 2014 turnout
AUSTIN — With one day of early voting to go, turnout in the Democratic primary had nearly doubled since the last midterm election in 2014.
According to the Texas secretary of state’s website — which tracks only the 15 counties with the most registered voters — 161,607 people voted in the Democratic primary in 2014 during the first 10 days of early voting. This year, 310,275 people voted in the Democratic primary in the same span — a 92 percent increase. Polls were set to close Friday at 7 p.m.
On the GOP side, 273,293 people had voted in the Republican primary as of Thursday. That’s still an 18 percent increase from 2014, when 231,530 voted in the Republican primary during the first 10 days of early voting.
Democrats may hold a 36,982 vote lead, but that doesn’t mean all of those voters are Democrats. Since Texas has semi-open primaries, voters can choose which party’s primary to vote in. (There is a caveat to choosing: In a runoff, voters must stick with the same party.)
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2018-elections/2018/03/02/texas-early-voting-numbers-wake-call-gop-democrats-double-2014-turnout
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