The early voting period for the first two weeks of the March 4 Primaries started strong with the appearance that both Democrats and Republicans would likely exceed the 2010 turnout for a primary. However, turnout fell for both parties. The combined 1.88 million voters were the lowest since 2006 and only the 12th-highest combined total since 1972, according to Texas Election Source. Overall, barely over 4% of voters cast a ballot in the Democratic primary and 9.8% in the Republican primary.
