AUSTIN — Early voting in the Democratic and Republican primaries this year has continued to soar across Texas’ top 10 counties for voter registrations.

As of Saturday, the fifth day of voting, 322,541 Texans had voted across the state’s counties with the most voter registrations, according to data from the secretary of state’s website. By party, 182,134 Democrats and 140,407 Republicans in those counties voted through Saturday.

That’s an increase of 30.7% from the number who had voted by the fifth day of early voting in the 2016 primaries, when 115,593 Democrats and 131,136 Republicans had voted by then.

But, for Democrats, early voting so far still hasn’t topped the historic turnout in the 2008 primary. By the fifth early voting day in 2008, 279,255 Texans had voted in the Democratic primary and 86,526 in the Republican primary.

In Dallas, Denton, Collin and Tarrant counties, where Democratic turnout nearly doubled on the first day of early voting last week in comparison to 2016, early voting continued to be strong through Saturday.

In the Republican primary, the total after five days of early voting was slightly higher this year than in 2016 for Collin and Denton counties. It dropped in Dallas and Tarrant counties.

With four more days until early voting ends on Friday, Texas Secretary of State Ruth R. Hughs announced a new statewide voter education campaign on Monday afternoon.

The campaign, funded by the Legislature during the 2019 legislative session, aims to inform voters of the state’s voter identification requirements, including approved forms of photo ID and the exemption process for those who cannot reasonably obtain a state-approved photo ID.

The education campaign “Ready. Check. Vote” is being deployed on radio, social media and by ambassadors raising awareness at public events across Texas. Bilingual ambassadors were in San Antonio last week and will tour the Rio Grande Valley during the next couple of weeks, Hughs said at a press conference in Austin.

“The ‘Ready. Check. Vote’ initiative will educate voters on the types of IDs they need to present at the polls in order to cast their votes,” she said. “I encourage all eligible Texans to set aside time to become familiar with what they need to bring to the polls in order to cast a ballot.”

Texans are required to show one of the seven following forms of photo ID to vote: a Texas driver's license; a Texas election ID certificate; Texas personal ID card; a Texas handgun license; a U.S. citizenship certificate; a U.S. passport or a U.S. military ID card.

More information, including on the Reasonable Impediment Declaration process for those who do not possess and cannot obtain those forms of ID, can be found at votetexas.gov or by calling 1-800-252-VOTE (8683).