How the first day of early voting in 2022 compares with high-excitement 2018

The pace of first-day early voting in Texas' 2022 elections showed a smaller turnout in the state's largest counties than four years ago, suggesting that the enthusiasm for the present midterm cycle might have slacked off from 2018 when statewide turnout surged.

With nearly complete, though unofficial, numbers reported to the Texas Secretary of State's Office by midday Tuesday, 788,663 ballots were cast either in person or by mail as of close of business Monday.

Even though the statewide number is up, several large counties showed lagging first-day turnout. Harris, Texas' largest county, reported 101,457 ballots cast either by mail or in person by Monday's end. The first-day number in 2018 was 115,601. Similar trends were found in Dallas, Bexar and El Paso counties.

The El Paso first-day numbers, 11,347 this cycle vs. 23,449 four years ago, could be significant because it's home to Democratic gubernatorial challenger Beto O'Rourke. He carried 75% of the home-county vote in his 2018 narrow loss to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. Most statewide polls have shown him behind this cycle in his race against incumbent Republican Greg Abbott.

Joshua Blank, research director for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, said numbers from one day should not be given too much weight.

"Turnout is one of the big open questions in this election after record-setting turnout in 2018 and 2020 in Texas," Blank said. "But it's not hard to imagine a reversion to more normal turnout patterns in 2022 without (former President Donald) Trump in office to motivate Democrats and a midterm environment that supports the status quo in Texas."

First-day turnout also dragged in Republican strongholds. For instance, in suburban Collin County north of Dallas, the turnout was about 11,000 less than what it was in 2018. In nearby Denton County, the drop-off was about 4,000 votes. Abbott in his race against Democrat Lupe Valdez that year took nearly 60% of the vote in both counties.

Lubbock County, where Abbott gobbled up nearly 70% of the 2018 vote, showed similar findings: First-day turnout dropped from about 12,600 four years ago to 8,243 this cycle. In Nueces County, where Abbott won by 14 points in 2018 and O'Rourke came within 1.5 points of Cruz, first-day early numbers this cycle slightly surpassed the 2018 mark, 13,686 to 12,064.

Early voting runs through Nov. 4. Election Day is Nov. 8.

John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Some Texas counties show drop-off in first-day early voting numbers