El Paso County is seeing significantly higher early voting turnout for primary elections than in 2022, the last midterm election, voting records show.
Votes cast in the El Paso Democratic primary through Sunday are 51% higher than at the same point in 2022, while Republican votes are up by 35%.
Both parties have hotly contested races for the U.S. Senate. The top two Democratic candidates, state Rep. James Talarico and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, campaigned in El Paso over the weekend.
So far, El Paso Democrats appear to have an enthusiasm edge. Through Sunday, El Paso County saw 2.9 Democratic votes for each Republican vote; in 2022, the ratio was 2.6 Democratic voters for each Republican at the same point in the election.
El Paso Matters analyzed county voting records to identify trends in the initial stage of early voting. Early voting ends Friday, Feb. 27, and Election Day is Tuesday, March 3.
The increase in turnout is driven largely by voters who didn’t cast ballots in the parties’ 2022 primaries, rather than regular voters going to the polls earlier, the analysis of county voting records shows.
Among Democrats, 42% of voters through Sunday either didn’t vote in any El Paso primary in 2022 or voted in the Republican primary. Among Republicans, 38% of voters through Sunday didn’t vote in any 2022 primary or voted in the Democratic race.
The early voting turnout shows a stark gender difference between the parties.
Women make up 53% of the Democratic primary voters through Sunday, while men make up 58% of Republican voters.
Democratic voters also are younger than Republicans so far. The average age of a Democratic primary voter through Sunday was 59; for Republicans it was 63.
Democrats make up a large majority of voters at all age groups, which has been the case in El Paso for decades.
Voters older than age 65 account for 48% of votes cast through Sunday. Among those voters, 72% voted in the Democratic primary and 28% in the Republican.
Voters younger than age 30, who make up 6% of voters so far, are overwhelmingly Democratic, with 88% of those voters casting Democratic ballots as of Sunday.
The post Early voting in El Paso primaries up sharply from 2022 as new voters drive turnout appeared first on El Paso Matters.
Read: Read More