Four percent of Comal County’s 147,503 registered voters cast ballots Monday, the first day of early voting in the Nov. 3 midterm election.
On social media, county spokesperson Cary Zayas said 5,871 voters turned up at six polling locations.
“We love seeing so many residents making their voices heard, but please bring a little patience with you as our election workers get everyone through the process,” she said.
Long lines and full parking lots were reported at some polling locations, with people waiting up to two hours to vote.
By comparison, 4,558 or 3.5% of Comal’s then-130,109 registered voters cast ballots on the first day of early voting — Oct. 24 — in the 2022 midterm election.
In the 2024 General Election, 7,916, or 5.5%, of Comal’s then-143,696 registered voters cast ballots on the first day of early voting.
Jerrie Champlin, former president of the League of Women Voters of the Comal Area (LWVCA), said she thinks the percentage of voters who cast ballots yesterday will remain at around 3.9%, “a higher percentage than 2022 but less than the last presidential election, which is not surprising, and this may set a new record for midterm elections.”
There is one caveat to crunching the numbers on state elections, though.
Texas and each county office report the percentage of registered voters who cast a ballot as the turnout.
“Nationally, turnout is usually reported as the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot as the turnout,” Champlin said. “So the Texas turnout number looks better than its actual rank in turnout, which is in the bottom five states and was 51 in 2020 and 50 in 2016, 2012, and 2004 presidential elections.”
Other states ranked in the bottom five in 2020 are Oklahoma, Hawaii, Arkansas and West Virginia.