McALLEN, Texas (AP) – Texans have already cast more early ballots ahead of next week’s election than they did during all of 2016. That signals an unprecedented surge of voting in a state that was once the country’s most reliably Republican but may be drifting toward legitimate battleground status.
More than 9 million ballots have been cast as of Friday in the nation’s second most-populous state, exceeding the 8.9 million cast in 2016, according to an Associated Press tally of early votes.
This year’s numbers were aided by early voting being extended a week amid the pandemic, but the state is still the country’s first to reach that milestone, according to AP’s count.
