The turnout for the first day of early voting in Central Texas was higher this year than it was in the 2012 and 2008 General elections during the same time frame.
In McLennan County, 4,376 people voted in person on Monday. That shows the voter turnout increased by more than one thousand since 2012 and is more than 21 percent higher than in 2008.
"Normally during early voting, we see the lines and we see the additional pick up of volume of people coming toward the end of the early voting period,” said McLennan County Elections Administrator Kathy Van Wolfe.
She said it has been busy since early voting started on Monday.
“We have seen lines from the beginning when the doors opened at 8 a.m. [on Monday] and it has been a steady stream at all of our locations,” Van Wolfe said.
In Bell County, 5,865 people participated in the first day of early voting, which is more than 12 percent higher than on day one of early voting in 2008. In 2012, on day one of early voting that number was 4,451.
On the second day of early voting, 6,157 people voted in person in Bell County. In McLennan County, nearly 5,000 people voted in person on Tuesday.
Central Texas voters, such as Tina Horn, said she is surprised by the turnout.
“I'm extremely surprised. Most of the time people don't vote. They want to gripe about who gets in office but they don't want to take time to vote,” Horn said.
John Lumpkin, a first time voter, said he is not shocked to see a high turnout.
"I don't know how many people out there are truly undecided at this point. I think people have already made decisions about the candidates, much more than other years,” Lumpkin said.
Van Wolfe said seeing a high turnout during early voting is exciting and could help with the wait times on November 8.
"We're hoping that it will alleviate the lines on Election Day," Lumpkin said.
Early voting will take place from 8 to 5 p.m. until Oct. 28. On Saturday 29, you can vote from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Early voting will take place until Nov. 4.
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