Austin: Over seven million people have already voted in the state of Texas ahead of next week’s general election, a figure that accounts for nearly 43 per cent of all registered voters in the state. A total of 25,658 people voted in person Sunday and 560 mail ballots were returned while 1,090,445 people in Harris County have cast a ballot so far as per Harris County Clerk. President Trump won Texas in 2016, as has every Republican presidential nominee for several decades, but Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign is hoping a surge in early and mail-in voting will turn the state blue for the first time since the late 1970s. Meanwhile, Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, will head to Texas Friday, the last day of early voting in the state, as polls show a close race at the top of the ballot here.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign sent an email to Democratic lawmakers Sunday saying the travel plans “will be publicly released momentarily,” the Texas Tribune reported. It’s not clear yet where in the state Harris, a US senator from California, will campaign. According to US Rep Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, the trip comes amid massive voter turnout in Texas.
“As the most recent statewide polls showing Vice President Biden ahead and the historic voter turnout in Central Texas and urban areas across the state indicate, we are changing Texas,” Doggett said in a statement. “Sen Harris would not be here near election eve were this not a winnable state. And, as Texas changes, we will change our country and our world for the better.” Biden’s wife, Dr Jill Biden, and Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, have made campaign stops in Texas in recent weeks. Joe Biden, however, has stuck to more traditional battleground states such as Pennsylvania. A Dallas Morning News/UT-Tyler poll among likely voters released Sunday shows Biden with a narrow lead over President Donald Trump, 48 per cent to 45 per cent, within the margin of error. The poll was conducted October 13-20.
