More than 17% of registered Collin County voters turned out early for the March 3 primary elections, a higher percentage than early votes cast in the 2024 primaries when there were even fewer registered voters.
There were 132,310 ballots cast during the 11 days of early voting that ended Friday, Feb. 27, said Collin County Elections Administrator Kaleb Breaux.
There were 761,563 voters registered in Collin County for the election, 44,000 more than the total number eligible to vote in the 2024 primaries.
According to the check-in summary by county location and party for the 2026 primaries, there were 63,237 Democratic Party ballots and 68,819 Republican Party ballots, Breaux said. In addition, there were 254 provisional ballots that were not immediately counted because the voter’s registration needed checking.
Even without presidential candidates on the ballot, this year’s early primary voting outpaced the March 2024 early voting in which 77,031 ballots were cast: 57,842 Republican, 19,189 Democratic and 52 provisionals.
Total early voting in 2024 was less than 11% of the total number of registered voters and accounted for 56% of all ballots cast in the election. The rest were cast on Election Day, March 5, for a total of 137,685, according to official election results.
Collin County has traditionally supported GOP candidates and President Donald Trump carried the county by 11 percentage points in November 2024.
But the 2026 early balloting showed pockets of Democratic voters outpolling their Republican neighbors in the primaries.
Check-in summaries showed Democrats outnumbered Republicans at several locations in Plano, 2,528 to 2,493 at the voting center on Collin College’s Wylie Campus and 1,142-1,120 at the Princeton Municipal Center.
However, the GOP primary attracted more early voters at the Wylie Community Park voting center and polling places in Blue Ridge, Farmersville, Lavon, Lucas, Murphy and Parker.
The totals were only for in-person voting and did not include mail-in ballots.
The Collin County Commissioners Court decided last year to use hand-marked paper ballots instead of voting machines.
The switch was made before the Nov. 4, 2025, general election.
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