The Texas polls have seen millions of early voters in person and by mail with the 2020 Election Day less than a week away.
Since the start of the early voting period on Oct. 13, 8,149,296 Texans have voted as of Oct. 27, accounting for 48.1 percent of all registered voters in the state, according to The Texas Tribune, 5.3 percent of which were mail-in votes.
To compare, 2020’s early voting percentage as of Oct. 27 is 11.3 percent higher than 2012’s two-week early voting period and 4.6 percent higher than the 2016 early voting period. With 48.1 percent of all registered voters in Texas having cast a ballot as of Oct. 27, all early voting records have been surpassed, even with days to go in the extended early voting period.
According to The Guardian, while concerns for COVID-19 are still present, the number of votes cast so far is momentous.
“In a tidal wave of political engagement, more than 7 million Texans have already cast a ballot during the general election, the vast majority in-person,” the article reads. “The numbers are propelling what is historically one of the lowest voter turnout states to the top of the nation’s leaderboard in terms of the sheer number of people who have voted thus far.”
In the same article, Texas A&M associate professor of political science Brittany Perry said she visited more than one polling place until she cast her ballot, and it was the first time she had to wait in line to vote.
“It is really quite something that people are turning out in the numbers that they are and that they’re standing in line for hours when this is early voting,” Perry told The Guardian. “This is not Election Day, and many Texans have never done that before because it is such a low voter turnout state.”
According to The Eagle, the most popular location for early voting in the county saw over 1,000 voters on Oct. 24.
“Brazos County’s most popular poll location throughout early voting has been the College Station Utilities and Training Facility, which saw 1,428 voters Saturday, by far its largest turnout,” the article reads. “Through eleven days of early voting, 12,900 people have voted at the utilities and training facility.” 
In an Oct. 28 tweet, CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip said with only a few days until the election, Texans are still heavily participating in early voting. 
“Texas voters [have] cast more than 8.1 million votes, 91 percent of [the] total 2016 vote, so far according to data posted on the Texas Secretary of State website Wednesday morning,” Phillip tweeted. 
Closer to home in Brazos County, early voting poll numbers have already surpassed those of 2016, with only a few more days of early voting to go. As of Oct. 27, 57,216 people have voted in the county. Combined with a few thousand mail-in ballots, a total of about 46.9 percent of all registered voters in Brazos County have already cast their ballots in the 2020 election.