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Record-breaking Democratic participation more than doubled statewide
Colorado County landed 83 votes short for the March 3 Primary Election of breaking the record for early voting turnout for a primary election set by the presidential primary in 2024.
Early voting ran for 12 days from Feb. 17 to Feb. 27. Almost 17% of all registered voters in the county (2,460 out of 14,553) voted during the early voting period, according to the Colorado County Election Administrator Rebecka LaCourse. LaCourse reported that 187 absentee ballots were issued, and 128 were returned.
The presidential primary election in 2024 totaled 2,543 voters. La-Course attributed the record to highly contested local elections including the sheriff, county tax assessor, Place 1 County Commissioner and Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace. The primary before in 2022, which included the governor’s place, totaled 1,701 voters.
In Colorado County, Republican turnout dominated with 1,930 votes (13.3% of all registered voters), almost four times the Democratic turnout of 530 (3.6% of all registered voters). Almost half of the Republican votes were cast on the last two days of early voting with 460 cast on Thursday, Feb. 26, and 429 on Friday, Feb. 27. Democrats voted the most on Friday, Feb. 27, with 112 votes cast.
Across Texas
Across the entire state, 6.33% of all registered voters (1,181,511 out of 18,657,918) cast Republican ballots during early voting, according to unofficial data from the Texas Secretary of State’s Office as of Monday evening. In comparison, 7.39% of all registered voters (1,379,460) cast a Democratic ballot. Combined, 13.73% of all registered voters in Texas (2,560,971) participated in early voting.
According to the Texas Tribune, “More ballots have been cast in Texas through the first seven days of early voting for the 2026 midterms than any recent midterm or presidential election year, driven by high turnout in the Democratic primary.” In the first week, Democratic voter turnout more than doubled its numbers from the previous two election cycles.
Numerous experts and political consultants from both political parties have attributed high turnout to the highly contentious U.S. Senate position currently held by Republican Sen. John Cornyn in addition to the governorship and attorney general positions. Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, told Spectrum News that this year’s turnout is not necessarily new voters but “a substantial number of individuals who normally vote Democratic but don’t participate in the primaries.” Jeffrey Engle, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, told the Texas Tribune something similar.
“We know that primaries are what draw the most enthusiastic voters, but by definition, the most enthusiastic voters are a small group,” Engle said. “What is going to be most telling about this election on the Republican side … is Republican apathy.”
The Tribune reported that Republican turnout is also higher than recent elections, though not as much compared to the Democratic turnout. The first seven days of Republican turnout in this primary has exceeded Republican turnout in the first seven days of the 2020 presidential primary elections.
Election Day
In Colorado County, all county positions are running uncontested. However, LaCourse said she expects the Colorado County Elections Office to be working well past midnight on Election Day, Tuesday, March 3, to send voting data to the state, compared to the usual 10 p.m. end time from other elections.
Unofficial results for Colorado County will likely not be available until Wednesday or later this week. Follow The Colorado County Citizen on Facebook and subscribe to view our website for election updates as our staff receives them.
