Super Tuesday is more than a week away, but according to new data from the Texas Secretary of State’s office, many Texans are choosing to vote ahead of time.
According to the Texas Secretary of State’s office, after six days of early voting, 4.3 percent of registered voters have cast a ballot. This is the highest number the state has seen since 2008, when 6.15 percent of registered voters had cast an early ballot by the end of the sixth day of early voting.
“We see in every election that more and more voters are unveiling themselves of early voting, so we are seeing an increase there,” Alicia Pierce, Communications Director for the Texas Secretary of State’s office said. “Whether that translates into a larger turnout on primary day, we’ll see. But it’s a contested election, there’s not an incumbent and it’s still up for grabs on both sides of the party.”
Pierce said the date is based only on the top 15 counties by registration, and the overall statewide numbers may ultimately show a different trend. However, the numbers do reveal that more and more Texans are choosing to vote in advance.
Political consultant Todd Olsen said the higher voter turnout has a lot to do with the amount of physical time the candidates have spent in Texas.
“You’re going to see lines of people stacked up to go vote for the first time sometimes in a presidential election,” Olsen said, “because they got to go meet Hillary Clinton in person, or they got to go see Ted Cruz at a big rally, or Donald Trump.”
Olsen said Texas is the biggest prize of all the 13 states voting on Super Tuesday, making it a high priority for many of the candidates. There are 155 delegates up for grabs for the Republican candidates, and more than 250 delegates for the Democratic candidates to take home.
“You’re going to see each of the campaigns make strategic decisions about where they go,” Olsen said, “and I think you are going to see a couple of them say Texas is where I am going to go do battle.”
Olsen said the more candidates are present in the Lone Star State leading up to Super Tuesday, the more Texans are inclined to get out and vote.
Hillary Clinton held a rally in Houston on Saturday after winning the Nevada caucus, and Bill Clinton will be traveling to Laredo and Dallas on Monday to campaign for the Secretary Clinton as well.
On Thursday the Republican candidates will debate in Houston before Texas voters head to the Polls. The debate will be hosted by CNN at the University of Houston.
