Collin County had logged 329,412 in-person early voters through Thursday, Oct. 29, according to check-in reports from the county elections office, with one day of early voting left before the Nov. 3 election.
Thursday alone brought 29,320 voters to the county's 42 early voting sites. The busiest day of the period was Friday, Oct. 23, with 34,724 check-ins, and the lightest was Sunday, Oct. 25, with 16,650. The county's list of returned mail ballots adds 8,353 received through Thursday.
McKinney's Gay Library led all sites for the period with 17,797 check-ins. Plano's Davis Library was close behind at 17,171, followed by Allen Public Library at 16,571.
The county reports count voters only. They say nothing about how anyone voted.
How each side reads the early vote
About 6 million Texans had voted statewide by Thursday, NBC 5 reported. An analysis by Republican researchers found that voters with a history of voting in Democratic primaries had outvoted those with Republican primary histories by about 70,000 ballots. Primary history does not show how those voters marked their general election ballots.
Republican officials described the figures as a warning. "Right now, it is not going well," Texas Comptroller Don Huffines told supporters, according to NBC 5, adding that the early vote "is not in our favor." Vice President JD Vance held a rally in Parker County on Thursday and urged Republicans to vote Friday or on Election Day.
Democrats cast the same numbers as a sign of momentum. Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for governor, campaigned in Plano on Thursday and pointed to turnout in Collin County, long a Republican stronghold. "Unusual, historic voter turnout, even in Collin County," she said. At a rally in downtown Dallas, U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico told supporters his opponents "are scared."
Joshua Blank, who directs research at the Texas Politics Project, told NBC 5 the pattern is "ahistorical" for Texas, where Republicans usually hold a clear edge among voters with a known party history at this stage. He said economic discontent may be weighing on the party that holds the White House in a midterm year.
