Early voting turnout was significantly lower for the tri-county area this year when compared to the last primary elections with a presidential race in 2020.
Total early voters by county by year:
Presidio 2020
Early Voters: 1,806
% of Registered Voters: 37.7
Presidio 2024
Early Voters: 1,332
% of Registered Voters: 30.8
Decline: 6.9%
Brewster 2020
Early Voters: 3,978
% of Registered Voters: 52.9
Brewster 2024
Early Voters: 1,014
% of Registered Voters: 14.1
Decline: 38.8%
Jeff Davis 2020
Early Voters: 1,039
% of Registered Voters: 62.2
Jeff Davis 2024
Early Voters: 434
% of Registered Voters: 28
Decline: 34.2%
It’s uncertain what has caused the dramatic declines in early voter turnout in Brewster and Jeff Davis Counties. Voter apathy over two shoe-ins for the presidential primaries may be a factor, although that was the situation in 2020 as well, and each of the counties has highly-contested local races this year. The tri-county area is following a statewide trend as early voting dropped from 2 million in 2020 to about 1.8 million this year.
A breakdown of 2024 early voters by party:
Presidio
Democrat: 1,263
Republican: 69
Difference: 1,194
Brewster
Republican: 684
Democrat: 330
Difference: 354
Jeff Davis
(not immediately available)
Links for early voting and election day turnout for counties for the last 34 years can be found here. (Click on the link for each county.) Polling locations for tomorrow’s Primary Election can be found here.