Early voting gets into gear as mail ballots lag

More than 60,000 registered voters in Harris County cast their ballots on Monday, the first day of early voting in Texas for the 2022 midterm elections. Nearly half as many people so far have voted by mail in Harris County as in 2018 during the same period, state data show. About 31,000 voters submitted mail-in ballots by the end of the day Thursday, compared with 56,000 at this point four years ago. Overall, turnout during early voting also has trailed slightly behind 2018.

Texas now has nearly 17.7 million voters, which is

1.9 million more than four years ago, according to the

Texas Division of Elections.

Michael Wyke/Contributor Early voters cast ballots at the polling location set up in the gym at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center.