First week of early voting in Harris County tops 2016 totals
Schmidt was among 34,496 people in Harris County to cast an in-person ballot Sunday. An additional 8,249 mail-in ballots were returned. They are all part of an expected nationwide trend of higher voter turnout.
While the weekend didn’t hit the 100,000-plus in-person turnout recorded each of the first four days of early voting, Saturday and Sunday saw a steady flow of voters. Combined mail and in-person turnout over the weekend was up 2 percent from the first weekend in 2016, but Harris County didn’t count any mail-in ballots on the first Saturday of early voting in 2016, according to the county clerk.
Some worried that busy jobs might preclude them from casting a ballot on Nov. 3. Others wanted to avoid the long lines seen at the start of early voting and anticipated again on Election Day. And, of course, there are all the concerns surrounding COVID-19.
And then there were voters such as Schmidt who, in the overall chaos of 2020, be it pandemic, political or otherwise, wanted to have plenty of time to sort out issues (should they arise) to make sure their vote counted.
“You either vote now,” said Royce Phillips, emphasizing the importance of casting a ballot this year, “or forever hold your peace,” concluded his wife, Joyce.
Overall, 628,708 Harris County residents cast an in-person or mail-in ballot during the first six days of early voting. The first six days of 2016, which was Monday-Saturday rather than this year’s Tuesday-Sunday, saw 527,631 early voters.
A Rice University survey of 4,108 Harris County registered voters estimates that 1.6 million people will vote in Harris County this fall.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/EARLY-VOTING-RESULTS-15657206.php