Local early turnout already surpassing some previous midterms

Going into the final day of early voting on Friday, turnout in some local counties had already surpassed that of previous midterm elections.

Comparing current and historical data from the Texas Secretary of State’s Office, KSAT found that as of Thursday night, Bexar County and the seven surrounding counties each had higher rates of early turnout than they did total early turnout in the 2022 midterm elections — even with a day left of in-person early voting and additional mail ballots coming in as late as Nov. 4.

• ATASCOSA — 27.9% turnout thru Oct. 29
• BANDERA — 41.3% turnout thru Oct. 29
• BEXAR — 35.7% turnout thru Oct. 29
• COMAL — 41.5% turnout thru Oct. 29
• GUADALUPE — 34.3% turnout thru Oct. 29
• KENDALL — 44.2% turnout thru Oct. 29
• MEDINA — 36.5% turnout thru Oct. 29
• WILSON — 37.2% turnout thru Oct. 29

All eight of the counties have increased their number of registered voters, so the raw number of early and mail votes has unsurprisingly gone up with them.

But KSAT found their actual turnout rates were already higher as well, by anywhere from 0.04% in Bandera County to 5.3% in Wilson County.

Atascosa, Bexar, and Wilson had also even already surpassed their early turnout rates for 2018, which was the last midterm with a U.S. Senate race on the ballot when Democrat Beto O’Rourke lost by less than 3 points to Sen. Ted Cruz (R).

Kendall and Guadalupe counties were the furthest behind, and only by 3.4% each.

But again, that was with a full day of voting and additional mail-in ballots left to go.

“I anticipated it to be busy, but not as high as it is,” Comal County Elections Coordinator Cynthia Jaqua told KSAT on Friday. “I didn’t expect on the very first day, on the 19th, to have a line down to what we call our fence at 8 o’clock in the morning, and it hasn’t stopped since the 19th.”

Jaqua said she expected Election Day to be busy, too, anticipating lines at about half of the county’s 26 polling locations.

“Get up early because the lines could be long on Election Day,” she advised.

Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. across the state on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

More Vote 2026 coverage on KSAT:

• Voting in Bexar County on Election Day: What to know before you go
• The Latino vote is up for grabs in Texas. How could Latino voters shape the 2026 midterm elections?
• Texas voters who need help casting ballots can choose a helper, with limits