Mail-in voting was down dramatically from pandemic levels in 2020.
Christian Martinez / Borderzine
El Pasoans lined up to cast ballots on the first day of early voting Monday, Oct. 21, at the Shoppes at Solana in West El Paso.
From El Paso Matters:
The first day of early voting for El Paso County’s general election drew 31% fewer voters than the record-setting 2020 race.
El Paso County had 23,678 mail and in-person voters on Monday, down from 34,118 in 2020. Most of the decline was in mail ballots, which spiked to a record high during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Even with decreased voting, county election officials reported occasional lines of 45 minutes or more as people waited to vote.
The first day of early voting in 2020 was on a Tuesday because of the Columbus Day holiday that year, which left one fewer day of early voting for Texans than in 2024.
First-day voting was down across the age spectrum in El Paso when compared to 2020. The number of voters under 30 was 37% below 2020 levels; the number of voters 30-44 was down 31%; voting by people 45-64 was off 19%; and votes from people 65 and older were off 36% from 2020 first-day totals.
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