Voting in Texas primary runoff better than recent comparable elections But voting compared to March primary way down

Voters walk out of the primary election polling place at St. Anne's Catholic Church on Tuesday, March 6, 2018, in Houston. Voters walk out of the primary election polling place at St. Anne's Catholic Church on Tuesday, March 6, 2018, in Houston. Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff / Houston Chronicle Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff / Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Voting in Texas primary runoff better than recent comparable elections 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN -- Nearly 380,000 voters have already cast ballots in the state's largest counties in advance of Tuesday's statewide primary runoff elections that will determine the final lineup for general election battles for governor, Congress and other offices.

About 240,000 have voted in person in the largest 15 counties, while the rest have cast absentee ballots by mail.

That turnout through early and absentee voting is better than previous primary runoff elections in 2016 and 2014, but way behind vote totals from the March primary when nearly 900,000 voted before Election Day.

The Democratic Primary includes a statewide battle for governor between Lupe Valdez and Andrew White. Republicans have no statewide primaries runoffs, but they do have several hotly contested congressional battles around the state.

In 2014, the last midterm primary election that had a runoff, just 313,000 people voted early or through absentee ballots.

In Harris County, nearly 68,000 people have cast ballots in the runoffs. That includes 33,768 votes in the Republican primaries and 33,706 in the Democratic primaries.

About 12,000 people have cast ballots in Fort Bend County. About 7,700 voted in the Democratic Primary and about 4,700 in the Republican Primary.

In Montgomery County just over 10,000 people have voted. About 8,400 of those votes were in the Republican Primary and about 1,700 in the Democratic Primary.

Jeremy Wallace writes about state politics and government for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter at @JeremySWallace.