Records Broken On First Day Of Early Voting Throughout Texas

AUSTIN, TX -- In mid-October, Texas elections officials reported that a record 15 million people had registered to vote in the state for the upcoming Nov. 8 elections -- a milestone that yielded a bellwether of turnout to the polls.

Record turnouts throughout Texas on the first day of early voting on Monday proved the registration rush to have been an accurate gauge. The 15 million who registered to vote before the Oct. 11 deadline represents roughly 80 percent of the state's voting age population.

By day's end on Monday, counties reported record-shattering voting had taken place at their polling sites. The contest between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump for the nation's presidency has generated intense public interest and galvanized votes in both political camps.

• In Bexar County, some 35,431 people cast ballots on the first day of early voting, breaking the record for the first day of voting in a general election, the San Antonio Express-News reported. The turnout surpassed the county's previous record of 30,087 votes cast in 2012, which itself topped the 29,119 votes in 2008 when President Barack Obama was elected to his first term, the newspaper reported. Still, the tally came up short of the county's single-day record of 45,375 votes cast on the final day of early voting in 2012, the newspaper noted.
• In Harris County, 67,471 in-person voters shattered the previous county record of 47,093 set in 2012 for that year's first day of early voting, the Houston Chronicle reported. Another 61,543 mail ballots had been returned by Monday, bringing the total number of early voters so far to 129,014 in the populous county in Texas.
• It was much the same story throughout North Texas, with Dallas, Tarrant and Denton counties all reporting record-high vote totals on the first day of early voting, Fox 4 reported. In Dallas County, 58,344 ballots were cast, breaking the 2008 record of 34,415. Tarrant County had 43,149 votes, breaking the record of 30,133 also set in 2012. In Collin County, 30,288 votes cast on Monday, nearly doubling the 2012 record of 16,531.
• Elections in Central Texas also saw previous records fall on Monday. In Williamson County, more than 17,000 voters cast their ballots, shattering the previous record of 9,300 on first day of early voting in 2012, KVUE-TV reported. Travis County saw 35,066 registered voters casting ballots in person, with another 11,020 mail ballots received. Those totals more than double the old record of 20,942 set in 2012. Bastrop County also saw its old records fall by 5 p.m., when 2,571 people had voted — almost double the 1,484 who set a first-day record in 2012, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

A massive bond referendum for road improvements and enhancements also is attributable for the high voter turnout in Austin. The $720 million bond proposition has generated much interest among voters, in addition to several city council races, one for the Travis County sheriff, and others for county commissioners, constables and Austin school board members.

Across the national electorate landscape, Texas has emerged as something of a political curiosity of sorts. Long a red state, with the seats of power all tightly controlled by Republicans, Texas has historically been deep red for decades. But this year, given the polarizing campaign of Trump, the political winds have been shifting to make Texas a competitive state -- in essence, a toss-up.

In short, Texas has implausibly emerged as a battleground state, with Clinton and Trump in a virtual dead heat according to several polls.

Given the intensity of interest in this year's unusual election -- pitting a businessman making his political debut against the first woman ever to be nominated by her party for the office of president -- it's likely those long lines will continue through the end of the early voting period on Nov. 4. According to a new CBS News tracking poll, 59 percent of likely voters say they plan to cast their ballots early.

Newly emerged voting dynamics in Texas further the oddity quotient, with the eyes of Texas now on the state's voting process. A federal court recently ruled the states's Voter ID law -- considered among the nation's most restrictive -- to be in violation of the Voting Rights Act. As a result, the state has been ordered by the U.S. Department of Justice to allow people unable to secure a photo ID to vote with use of supporting documents (including utility bills, paychecks or a bank statement) to prove their identity.

It's widely believed the relaxed new rules are helping to spur voting levels in Texas among people previously disenfranchised from the elections process. Before the court order, Texas gave people the ability to vote only if they possessed a photo identification card, including a concealed handgun license. Critics of he now-struck-down law saw it more as an effort to block certain voters from the voting booths rather than a genuine safeguard against voter fraud as its proponents claimed it was.

For more about that issue, as well as a list of acceptable forms of identification now allowed for the first time since the state's Voter ID law took effect in 2011, click here.

For more information on voting in Texas, visit VoteTexas.gov or call 1-800-252-VOTE.

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