More than 72,000 Denton County residents cast their ballots early in preparation for Tuesday’s primaries, and votes in the Republican primary outnumbered those in the Democratic races during the Feb. 20-March 1 early voting period.
In GOP primary races, voters cast 53,306 in-person and 2,691 mail-in votes, while Democrats cast 14,499 in-person and 1,725 mail-in ballots.
The most popular day for early voting was the final day, Friday, for both parties — with 3,761 in-person ballots cast for Democrats and 12,214 for Republicans.
The slowest day for both party primaries was Sunday, Feb. 25 — with 1,611 early ballots cast in the GOP primaries and 505 early votes for Democrats.
Texas joins 14 other states and one territory (American Samoa) in Super Tuesday voting on March 5.
Texas’ open primaries mean that registered voters may choose which party’s primary they want to vote in — but they cannot cross party lines to vote in a primary runoff in that election cycle. And runoffs are likely in some hotly contested races.
Early voting by district
Many of those votes were cast for the nomination for U.S. Congressional District 26, which covers a large portion of Denton, Cook, Wise and Tarrant counties.
Eleven Republicans and one Democrat are seeking their party’s nomination after Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Pilot Point, declined to seek reelection after representing District 26 in the U.S. House since 2003.
According to the Denton County early voting numbers, 42,336 Republican votes were cast in person and 1,428 by mail in the District 26 primary race.
The Democratic race for the seat garnered 10,410 early votes in person and 1,922 by mail.
Texas Senate District 30, which includes most of the city of Denton, as well as north Denton County and parts of 13 other counties, has several candidates who are seeking the seat after state Sen. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, announced he will not seek reelection next year.
The four-way race includes GOP candidate Brent Hagenbuch, who has faced accusations of living outside the district and has a trial pending after candidate Carrie de Moor challenged his eligibility to run.
Republicans have cast 22,082 in-person votes and 760 by mail in that race.
A total of 7,063 Democratic votes were cast in person and 906 by mail in the state Senate District 30 race, which has three contenders.
Locally, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
On election day, Denton County voters must go to their assigned party voting precinct to cast their ballot. To look up your precinct and polling location, visit votedenton.com.
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