Texas Counties Report High First-Day Early Voting

Texas counties reported unusually high first-day early-voting totals, with Harris County recording 104,734 in-person ballots and Dallas County reporting 76,079 as voting began in the 2026 midterm election. Harris County’s total surpassed its previous opening-day midterm record, set in 2018, by more than 41,000 ballots. The Harris County Clerk’s Office reported the 104,734 figure after polls closed. The county’s prior first-day midterm high was 63,188. Lines extended outside several of the county’s 75 voting locations, and the Richard and Meg Weekley Community Center processed more than 3,100 ballots, according to local reporting. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins reported 76,079 first-day ballots, above the county’s 2018 midterm record of 59,389. The reported figure also exceeds a prior first-day record of 60,573 cited in another account, though that account gives a lower tally of 76,069 for this year. The distinction does not change the reported comparison with the 2018 midterm total. Tarrant County recorded 50,409 first-day early voters, according to its elections administration. That was higher than the 29,194 recorded on the first day of early voting in 2022, but below the...