Are more Republicans than Dems voting early in Tarrant County? What the numbers show.
More than 367,700 people have already cast ballots in Tarrant County during the first week of in-person early voting, a substantial increase from the last presidential election four years ago.
In-person early voting started Monday, Oct. 21, and runs through Friday, Nov. 1. The election is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
In the first five days of this year’s early voting, 367,752 people cast ballots at the county’s 51 early voting sites — roughly 28% of registered voters, according to Tarrant County’s Election Department.
That’s higher than in the 2020 general election, when 311,254 people — about 26% of registered voters — had cast ballots in-person during early voting’s first week.
Through Saturday, Oct. 27, the county had received 20,773 mail-in ballots. There were 70,821 mail-in ballots received for the entirety of the 2020 election, according to the election department.
Voters in Tarrant County can go to any polling place during early voting and on election day.
At the top of the ballot — in addition to the presidential race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris — is the U.S. Senate race in Texas between Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Colin Allred.
Both presidential candidates were in Texas on Friday, with Trump focusing on border security during a campaign event and Harris focusing on abortion access. Each gave shout outs to their party’s respective Senate candidate. Polls show a tight Senate race in Texas, as Democrats fight to keep control of the upper chamber in Washington.
Down ballot, local elections include state House and Senate races, as well as contests for Tarrant County sheriff and two county commissioner seats.
Statewide, early voting turnout for the first week was about 29% when combining in-person and mail-in ballots, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s office. Some of the mail-in ballots were submitted before in-person early voting started on Oct. 21.
Who’s voting early?
An analysis of early voting turnout by Republican political consultant Derek Ryan suggests a GOP edge in Texas.
Ryan’s analysis, based on voter history over the past four cycles, found that 38% of Texans who voted in the first four days last week were loyal Republicans — having participated in only GOP primaries. Some 24% of the early-voting Texans had cast ballots only in Democratic primaries. And 34% have only voted in a general election or have no prior voting history.
In the first four days of early voting in Tarrant County, those statistics were 36% with only Republican voting histories and 26% with only Democratic, according to Ryan’s analysis. Thirty-five percent have only voted in a general election or have no prior voting history.
In 2020, the final vote count in Tarrant County for the presidential race was 49.09% for Trump and 49.31% for Biden. Trump won the state of Texas.
Tarrant County voting locations with highest early turnout
Three of the five early voting sites in Tarrant County that saw the most turnout during the first week are suburban communities. Here are the top five with the numbers of votes cast last week:
- Keller Town Hall (1100 Bear Creek Parkway): 14,428
Dionne Phillips Bagsby Southwest Subcourthouse (6551 Granbury Road, Fort Worth): 13,142
Grapevine Public Library (1201 Municipal Way): 12,980
Southlake Town Hall (1400 Main St.): 12,674
Summerglen Library (4205 Basswood Blvd., Fort Worth): 12,522
Tarrant County voting locations with the lowest early turnout
The least trafficked polling places during the first week of early voting in Tarrant County were:
- Tarrant County Election Center (2700 Premier St., Fort Worth): 2,321
- Northside Community Center (1100 NW 18th St., Fort Worth): 1,983
- Tarrant County College South Campus (5301 Campus Drive, Fort Worth): 1,758
- Southwestern Baptist Theological (4521 Frazier Ave., Fort Worth): 1,284
- Worth Heights Community Center (3551 New York Ave., Fort Worth): 1,248
Don’t want to wait in long lines?
You don’t necessarily have to.
You can check current estimated wait times at early voting polling places in Tarrant County. Here’s a live look at those wait times now:
Who’s on the ballot in Tarrant County
Learn more about statewide and local candidates and where they stand in the Star-Telegram’s voter guide. We sent questionnaires to Republican and Democratic candidates in every contested race. Their responses were not edited and are in the candidates’ own words.
You can also read which candidates have been endorsed by the Star-Telegram’s editorial board here.
This story was originally published October 28, 2024 at 2:51 PM.
