HOUSTON — Turnout for early voting in Harris County is on pace to surpass that of the entire 2016 election.
Seven days into the early voting period in Texas, nearly 720,000 voters in Harris County cast their ballot in person or by mail through Monday.
That figure represents 52% of the 2016 total turnout and 73% of the 2016 early voting turnout.
Harris County voters in 2020 broke records during the first four days of early voting, casting more than 100,000 ballots each day, with an average about 10,000 votes per hour.
"This turnout is not an accident,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Tuesday.
Hidalgo credits expanded access and safety protocols with encouraging participation.
The county nearly tripled the number of early voting sites to a record 122. Ten of those are new drive-thru voting sites. Voters can check estimated wait times at HarrisVotes.com.
People voting by mail can track the status of their application and ballot. They can also choose to deliver their ballot in person outside NRG Arena.
After the first week of early voting, 29% of registered Harris County voters had already cast their ballot.
"I think people are participating because they care,” Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who represents Harris County Precinct 1, said. "I hope it's a good omen to my former colleagues in the legislature that we ought to do more to encourage people to vote."
Ellis joined Hidalgo at the Rice Stadium voting center Tuesday morning to thank some of the more than 11,000 poll workers running Harris County’s 2020 election.
A spokesman for the Texas Secretary of State’s Office reported Tuesday that more than 4.6 million Texans cast their ballot during the first week of early voting.