Denton County continuing to see best early voting turnout ever

Denton County has continued to see its best daily turnout in early voting during the first week, save for the weekend. But even with the smaller turnout Saturday and Sunday, 205,738 ballots had been cast by late Monday — accounting for 36.4% of registered voters in the county.

By the seventh day of early voting in 2016, 137,607 registered voters had cast a ballot in the county, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office.

Despite the record turnout, Denton County Elections Administrator Frank Phillips said he thinks turnout will taper off this week.

“I then expect the third week to steadily climb and probably exceed the first week,” Phillips said. “I think the first few days we had a huge turnout because of those excited to get their vote in, and we’ll see the same the third week when they turn out to get their vote in before the end of early voting.”

A total of 35,944 people voted in person Oct. 13, the first day of early voting. That was the county’s highest single-day turnout. It easily broke the previous record set in 2016 on the last day of early voting, when 24,983 people voted in person.

Monday’s turnout dropped to 22,934, but the figure is still higher than most of the daily voter turnout for the 2016 election.

Although turnout is high right now during early voting, Phillips said he still expects a large turnout on Election Day.

“There are always ‘traditionalists’ that really enjoy voting on Election Day,” he said. “They like the excitement of Election Day, and they like to savor the moment.”

Phillips also showed the Denton County Commissioners Court on Tuesday that residents ages 40 to 70 are outpacing voters younger than 40. Through 1 p.m. Monday, 106,380 residents in the older age range had voted, compared with 50,080 voters under 40. Three residents older than 100 have voted in the early voting period.

Data from the Denton County Elections Administration office also shows Carrollton Public Library is the polling place that has seen the largest number of voters come through. Almost 8,000 voters have cast their ballots at the library at 4220 N. Josey Lane.

A Lewisville polling place closed Thursday after a poll worker tested positive for COVID-19. The Herring Recreation Center polling site at 191 Civic Circle was sanitized and reopened Friday with a new set of poll workers managing voting, elections staff said Tuesday.

Emily Meisner, a Democratic election liaison, said she has seen a big issue with Republican poll workers refusing to wear masks.

“Republicans who refuse to wear masks are willing to risk people’s lives, shut down polling locations and deprive voters of their right to vote,” she said in a Denton County Democratic Party news release. “Should having the right to not wear masks infringe upon another’s right to preserve their health and vote? No, this is reprehensible behavior.”

Jayne Howell, chair of the Denton County Republican Party, said election workers from both political parties have chosen to not wear masks.

“They do appear to be proper distancing and taking sterilization precautions along with the spacing of the equipment and the plexiglass screens,” Howell said in an email Tuesday evening. “I am not aware of anyone bullying for wearing a mask. We all have our opinion on mask wearing. Our main objective is to help voters vote in the safest manner possible.”

Poll workers and voters are exempt from Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order on face masks.

“There has been some reports of friction, but we have to remind [everyone] that the governor exempted poll workers and voters from a mask mandate,” Phillips said.

He said anyone with concerns about face mask usage can reach county elections personnel by emailing elections@dentoncounty.com.