Houston Chronicle launches county-by-county early voting tracker for March 3 Texas primaries

Houston Chronicle data reporters published an interactive tracker on Feb. 21, 2026 that lets Harris County voters and Texans follow daily early-voting totals as the March 3, 2026 primary approaches, using turnout figures supplied by the Texas Secretary of State’s office. The product is designed to report daily updates and to display results at the county level.

The Chronicle’s tracker is county-by-county and party-specific, allowing users to compare early voting totals across jurisdictions and political affiliations in the run-up to the March 3 primaries. The original report described the tool as one that "allows readers to follow daily early‑voting turnout for the March 3, 2026 primarie" and identified the Texas Secretary of State as the source of the daily turnout numbers.

The paper promoted the tracker on its social platforms with consistent messaging about the Secretary of State data feed. A Facebook post said, "Track daily early voting turnout for the 2026 midterm primary election with the Houston Chronicle, using data from the Secretary of State’s office." The Chronicle also shared the tracker on Threads under the handle "Houston Chronicle (@houstonchron)" with a scraped capture showing "70 Views," and on X under "Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron)" with a scraped capture showing "4 likes 632 views."

Sources and metadata in the reporting name Harris County voters as a stakeholder in the piece; the original "Who" line explicitly listed "Houston Chronicle data reporters, the Texas Secretary of State (source of daily turnout numbers), and Harris County voters." The tracker’s county-level approach means Harris County voters can check how early voting in Harris County compares to neighboring counties, though no Harris County vote totals were supplied in the material reviewed.

The publicly available descriptions note the tracker breaks out turnout by party but do not enumerate which parties are included or whether the display separates in-person early votes, mail ballots returned, provisional ballots, or historical comparisons. The publication date of Feb. 21, 2026 is explicit in the original report, and social shares captured near that window amplify the launch.

As early voting proceeds before March 3, 2026, the Chronicle’s interactive tracker will rely on daily turnout numbers from the Texas Secretary of State’s office to update county-by-county and party-specific totals for voters monitoring turnout across Harris County and the state.