Dallas County saw record-breaking turnout during the recent general election.

According to Dallas County Auditor Julia Helm, the previous election shattered records for voter turnout, total votes cast, and absentee voting. Helm says this election was much different than any other she’s been a part of, “This year absentees started so much earlier. Not because the deadlines had changed, but because voters were more ready to engage in that. After July 6th, we were able to take absentee ballot request forms, and they flooded us. We started processing them earlier than we usually do, even though ballots did not go out until October 5th. On October 5th, we sent out over 20,000 ballots that day, which we’ve never had that many go out that early, then continue on every day after that, ballots were going out.”

Dallas County had more than 82% voter turnout. For a comparison, Dallas County had a 69.5% voter turnout in 2012 and 77% in 2016. You can hear more from Helm during Tuesday’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program on KDLS and RaccoonValleyRadio.com.