https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2009-05-04/775985/

Big Spike in Early Voting on Next-to-Last Day

By Lee Nichols, May 4, 2009, 10:16pm, Newsdesk

A sharp jump in turnout for day 8 of early voting has pushed the 2009 totals ahead of the entire nine days of last year’s municipal elections. While it’s not unusual for the last day of early voting to see a big spike upwards, this bump came on the next-to-last day: 5,326 ballots were cast in person, plus another 162 mail-ins, producing a total almost double any of the previous days.

This brings the grand total to 21,472, well ahead of the 19,613 from last year’s EV period. The percentage of registered voters is higher too, 4.08% versus 2008’s 3.47%.

Those numbers bode well for improving on last year’s paltry 35,858 total ballots and 8.25% turnout.

Good job, Austin! Well, relatively speaking, of course. Okay, I guess it would be more accurate to say we have a chance at being less pathetic than last year.

Early voting ends tomorrow (Tuesday, May 5) at 7pm. Go to our Election Central for early voting locations and hours, a list of candidates, our endorsements, and ongoing coverage. Election Day is May 9.