Early Voting Turnout In Northeast Texas County Could Surpass Total Turnout From 2016

From KETR:

Turnout on the first day-and-a-half of early voting in the mostly rural counties of northeast Texas is already rivaling turnout for the 2016 presidential race. In Lamar County, turnout will likely surpass 2016 numbers.

“It’s the biggest we’ve ever seen,” says Tricia Johnson, Lamar County’s election administrator.

Johnson says during the first day-and-a-half, the county saw more than half the voters it saw for the entire two weeks of early voting during the 2014 midterms.

The county is also poised to outpace the 2016 presidential race, when 10,000 voters turned out over 10 days. From Monday morning through midday Tuesday, more than 2,300 voters have come to the polls, and if the trend continues, turnout will top that of the 2016 presidential election.

In one of the more politically diverse counties in the region, exactly what do all these voters say is driving them to the polls so soon?

“What I’m hearing is ‘We need to make a change,'” Johnson says. “Whether that means local, state – I have no idea, but they’re pretty interested in it, that’s for sure.”

Early voting continues through next week, and Election Day is Nov. 6.