Early Texas Voters Surpass State’s Entire 2016 Vote

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The number of Texans who voted early in the 2020 election as of Friday surpassed the total number of voters who cast ballots in the state’s entire 2016 election.

Of 16.9 million registered voters, 53.1 percent had cast their votes by Friday morning, or about 9.010 million more than the 8.969 million who voted in 2016 according to Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs’ office. Texans have four days left to continue voting.

High voter turnout typically favors Democratic candidates, though it isn’t clear the above-average numbers will be enough to deter Texas from voting Republican this year. The state last voted for a Democratic president in 1976, when it sent Jimmy Carter to the White House.

Minnesota has consistently experienced the highest voter turnout in the country in modern history, with 74 percent of voters showing up in 2016. That state’s voters last voted for a Republican president in 1972, in the form of Richard Nixon, though national Republicans have targeted Minnesota as a state they would like to win this year.

More than 58 million Americans voted in 2016, or about 60 percent of eligible voters. More than 82 million Americans have voted in the 2020 election to date, according to the United States Elections Project.