Lubbock County’s early voting participation trailed Williamson and Travis counties after the first two days, although local elections officials reported no major problems casting ballots.
Elections Administrator Troy Havard reported to Lubbock Lights that 17,490 people voted Monday and Tuesday, representing approximately 8.56% of the county’s 204,340 registered voters.
Williamson County reported participation of 11.38% through Tuesday, while Travis County reached 9.59%. Lubbock would have needed approximately 5,760 additional voters to match Williamson’s rate and 2,100 more to match Travis’s.
Lubbock’s rate was slightly above Harris County’s 8.45% and ahead of Montgomery County’s 6.81%, showing that participation varies considerably across Texas.
Havard also told Lubbock Lights that, as of noon Wednesday, the county had experienced no major issues affecting people’s ability to cast a ballot.
Nationally, early ballots exceeded 12.6 million by Tuesday, Axios reported, citing University of Florida Election Lab data. States began voting on different dates.
Separately, Daily Kos reported NBC News data showing registered Democrats accounted for 53% of early and mail ballots across 10 Senate battlegrounds, compared with 34% for registered Republicans. Those figures describe voters’ party registration, rather than candidate choices or the entire national electorate.
Including Wednesday, 10 days remain in early voting, which ends Friday, Oct. 30. The comparison counties’ totals include mail ballots; Lubbock’s mail-ballot coverage still needs clarification for an equivalent comparison.
Early voting continues through Oct. 30. Election Day is Nov. 3.
President Donald Trump plans an Oct. 27 rally at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center in support of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton. Whether the visit will energize Republican turnout remains an open question.
