Among the states that have held elections instead of caucuses, only Louisiana had a lower turnout percentage than Texas. Despite this rank for low turnourt among other states, Texas saw record early voting turnout in the March Primary by the state’s 15 most populous counties and even more voters cast ballots on Election Day; – at least 29% of registered voters in all. In total nearly 4.3 million people voted in the Republican (2.83 million) or the Democratic (1.43 million) primary. This was the largest primary showing since 2008.
Jeff Blaylock with Texas Election Source reports that significant down-ballot drop-off in the March primary, “A significant number of primary voters cast a ballot for their preferred presidential candidate and no one else. As turnout increases, the drop-off of voters down the ballot increases. In 2008, a record number of people cast ballots in the Democratic primary, but nearly a quarter of them voted only for president. Almost 700K did not vote in any other race, and the drop-off got bigger the farther one goes down the ballot.”
