Turnout for early voting in this midterm election reached 31%, about 7 percentage points below what it was in 2018. This may be due to voter apathy.
Domestic mail-in ballots turned in and postmarked by election day are counted if they arrive no later than 5 p.m. Nov. 9. Mail-in ballots from military and overseas voters have to be postmarked by Election Day and arrive no later than Nov. 14. In close races, mail-in votes and provisional ballots may help determine the winner, which can delay the calling of the race. The certification of final election results must be completed by all the counties on Nov. 21 and will be released by the secretary of state by Nov. 23. For any races undergoing a recount, the final results will not be available until the recount is complete.
The Texas Tribune’s election data is provided by Decision Desk HQ, which gathers information from the secretary of state’s office and a representative sample of 50 counties. Decision Desk calls winners and provides estimates as to how many votes are left to be counted. The estimates of votes left to be counted may change throughout election night.
Contributions by Emily Albracht, Yuriko Schumacher, Darla Cameron and AmyJo Brown.
Disclosure: The Texas secretary of state, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Terry Canales, Senfronia Thompson, Brooks Landgraf, Vikki Goodwin and Todd Hunter have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
