More than 63,000 in-person ballots were cast in Harris County on Monday, a reportedly record-setting turnout for the first day of early voting in the midterm elections. With mail-in ballots, 115,601 votes have been cast in Harris County so far.
The Metropolitan Multi-Service Center near River Oaks saw 3,741 voters, followed by Juergen’s Hall Community Center in Cypress with 2,640 voters and the Champion Forest Baptist Church with 2,500. The polling location in Harris County with the least voters was the Galena Park Library with 392 voters.
In the below map, polling locations are color-coded with their turnout totals. Make sure “Total Votes” is selected in the drop-down menu to the left of the map key.
View First Day of Early Voting in Harris County in a full screen map.
While polls in northwestern suburbs and the west side of Houston saw the highest numbers of voters, the first-day turnout increased for nearly all locations compared to the 2014 midterms, says Bob Stein, a political scientist at Rice University.
“When you look at the far west side and the north side, what you’re seeing are voters getting up in the morning on a Monday and anticipating that there might be long lines on election day and before they go to work and drive in on Katy Freeway, they go to their early voting location,” Stein said.
While voters in those locations outnumbered voters on the east side of Houston, Stein says, turnout still increased.
“What you’re seeing is much higher voter turnout for early voting than what you’ve seen before.”
Stein said turnout numbers typically fall towards the middle of early voting, but increase again in the last few days.