The line of people waiting to cast their ballots wrapped to the back of the Heritage Building,1900 Bellwood Rd, out into a field as polls opened on Oct. 13 at 8 a.m. in Tyler for early voting for the November general election.

Smith County early voting this year has surpassed the number of people who cast their ballot early in the 2016 General Election.

According to the Smith County Elections Office, as of Sunday, 58,973 people went to the polls out of 146,225 registered to vote. This is slightly up from 2016’s overall early voting total of 58,406.

The current voter turnout in Smith County is about 40.33%, while in the 2016 election, 43.1% of the 135,567 registered voters cast a ballot before Election Day.

Overall, in 2016, 85,230 votes were cast for a turnout of 62.87%.

The 2020 early voting turnout has already overlapped the 36.95% early voter turnout during the 2018 General Election. That year, 50,539 people voted early out of 136,791 registered voters.

Early voting continues through this Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at seven voting locations.

Polling sites include the R.B. Hubbard Center “The Hub” (304 E. Ferguson St. in Tyler), Heritage Building (1900 Bellwood Road in Tyler), Chapel Hill Fire Department (13801 County Road 220 in Tyler), Noonday Community Center (16662 County Road 196 in Tyler), WorkHub (7922 S. Broadway Ave. in Tyler), Lindale Kinzie Community Center (912 Mt. Sylvan St. in Lindale) and Tyler Area Senior Citizens Association Activity Center (10495 County Road 2167 in Whitehouse).

Voting data shows The Hub continues to be most populated site, with 10,698 votes as of Sunday. The Noonday Community Center follows behind with 10,105 ballots cast so far, and Lindale Kinzie Community Center has the third most votes with 9,249 as of Sunday.

People also have until Election Day (Nov. 3) at 7 p.m. to turn in their mail-in ballot in the foyer of The Hub.