HOUSTON, Texas – Early voting has ended in Texas, and the Harris County Elections Department is reporting record-breaking numbers.
On Friday, the final day of voting, the department shared early voting statistics on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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A total of 1.7 million Harris County voters participated ahead of the Nov. 5 general and special elections.
Day 12 of #EarlyVoting: As of November 1, 2024, #HarrisCounty has recorded 1.17M+ total In-Person Early Votes for the November 5 General & Special Elections. 🗳️✅ #harrisvotes pic.twitter.com/hevrdx8MO0
— Harris County Elections Department (@HarrisVotes) November 2, 2024
Harris County’s election headquarters is also buzzing with more than 12,000 people gathering supplies in preparation for Election Day.
“Election judges, election workers, and individuals will be here at our election headquarters today and tomorrow picking up their supplies,” explained Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth.
Behind Hudspeth, workers collected paper, documents, and all necessary equipment to set up for Election Day.
Hudspeth said she wanted to assure voters that there would be no ballot paper shortages, as some precincts experienced in 2022.
“We’ve done many things here in Harris County to address paper concerns of the past. In the last year that I’ve run elections, we’ve had more than enough paper and did a software upgrade to ensure less paper needs to be printed,” she said.
Hudspeth and other county clerks expect a busy Election Day, despite the record-breaking early voting turnout.
Nearly 46% of Harris County’s registered voters cast early ballots, with Fort Bend and Montgomery counties seeing 54% early turnout.
Statewide, the Texas Secretary of State reports that 47% of registered voters voted early.
Meanwhile, on the national stage, prominent figures are urging those who haven’t yet voted to do so on Nov. 5.
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris each made their final pushes to voters.
“I pledge to you, if you give me the chance to fight on your behalf, there is nothing that will stand in my way,” Harris said.
Trump, however, criticized her qualifications, saying, “She can’t handle anything...she’ll get overwhelmed, meltdown, and millions of people will die.”
According to NBC, over 72 million Americans have already cast their ballots. They also reported that of the early votes cast, 40% came from Republicans, 40% from Democrats, and 20% from others.
