27.8% turnout in Brazoria County.
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Voting turnout in Texas surged on Tuesday with a record high number of Republican voters making it to the polls for the party's primary, thanks to a volatile presidential party contest and the state's earlier position in the nation's primaries.
"It's unprecedented," said Tom Mechler, Texas GOP chairman. "It's definitely historical."
Melcher attributed the record-breaking turnout to Texas' place on the primary schedule plus the fact that this was only the second time in Texas history that there was a GOP primary in all 254 counties.
"The reason that this has happened is that Texans believe they are going to have a say," he said.
More than 2.8 million Republican ballots were cast in Texas, approximately double the 2012 Republican primary total of 1.4 million. In the Democratic primary, more than 1.4 million were cast, besting the 2012 totals but falling far short of the nearly 2.9 million Democratic ballots cast in the 2008 primary, when the contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton drew strong interest.
The combined turnout for both primaries this year is comparable to the 4.2 million primary ballots cast in 2008, according to unofficial totals.
