Dallas County is experiencing a record-breaking early voter turnout for the 2020 presidential election.
With over a week until Election Day, Dallas County residents have already cast more than 563,148 votes between in-person votes and mailed-in ballots as of Friday, October 23rd.
On Saturday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tweeted that an additional 18,109 votes were cast, bringing the total to 581,626 when mail-in ballots are added.
Dallas County resident Suraen Jothiratnam told NBC DFW about the importance of voting.
Jothiratnam stated, "I really wanted my vote to count this time. I didn't want to wait until the last day. Do your part, you know? Yes, it takes a little bit of time out of your day to do it, but this is part of our civic duty and this is the least we can do."
Other nearby counties have experienced record-breaking early voting numbers as well. Collin County has reported at least 311,000 votes, and Denton counties have reported at least 294,024 votes as of Sunday.
According to Dr. Kimi King, a professor of American Government and US Constitutional Law at the University of North Texas in Denton, the voter turnout is trending largely democratic and voters over the age of 40.
According to the Associated Press, Texas has already cast about 7 million votes.
Early voting will continue until October 30th. Polls are open 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Photo: Getty Images
Source: NBC DFW