Harris County’s early vote looks different this year. Here’s who’s showing up—and why – Click2Houston

Harris County’s early vote looks different this year. Here’s who’s showing up—and why  Click2Houston

More than 700,000 Harris County voters had cast early or mail ballots through Monday. A local analyst breaks down the turnout, while voters share the issues driving their decisions. HOUSTON – The cost of living. Public schools. Health care. For the Harris County voters KPRC 2 spoke with, there’s no single reason to show up at the polls this election. But they’re casting ballots early at a faster pace than they did during the last midterm. More than 700,000 Harris County voters had voted early in person or returned a mail ballot through Monday, according to the Harris County Clerk’s Office. Steven David has been following the numbers. His analysis of public voting records shows the county’s early vote is ahead of where it was at the same point in the 2022 midterm and closer to the pace of the 2024 presidential election.

“Right now in Harris County, we are 1.6 times more than in 2022, the last off-cycle election, and we’re at about 86% of a presidential election,” David said. “So as a person who analyzes this, this is more like a presidential year than it is a nonpresidential year.” David is a former Houston city executive who ran for Congress as a Democrat in 2018. He created an online dashboard using public voting records to compare turnout and