Early Voting Results: Day Three
Turnout holds steady and should break 10% today
By Richard Whittaker, 12:41PM, Thu. Oct. 25, 2012

With three days down and nine to go, early voting turnout in Travis County is remaining pretty static. After a first day bulked up by incoming mail-in ballots, in-person voting actually rose on Tuesday and Wednesday. For the life of us, we can't remember the last time that happened.
Normally, you expect some drop-off, just because the excited voters make their way to the polls asap, and then it's a case of meandering over. Yet again, mobile voter sites have really succeeded, with 3,398 ballots cast.
There's a few theories floating around, not least that there is less early voting excitement than in 2008. That lead to a monumental first day turnout of 25,000 votes. Plus, with a supersized ballot, including city and county amendments, plus AISD and ACC trustees, voter education is a tough challenge. Look for campaigns to target what they call "lower probability voters": Now the excited and committed "likely voters" are all out of the way, they can concentrate all their effort on people who may not be aware early voting has started, or may be waiting for more info on races.
Still, even if it looks lower and slower than 2008, expectations are high that turnout should still break 70%.
Travis County Voters | In Person | Mail In Ballots | Total | %age registered voters |
Day One | 16,378 | 4,557 | 20,935 | 3.3 |
Day Two | 16,387 | 1,172 | 17,559 | 2.77 |
Day Three | 16,721 | 1,349 | 17,726 | 2.79% |
Total | 49,486 | 6,734 | 56,220 | 8.85 |
Got something to say on the subject? Send a letter to the editor.
A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.
Richard Whittaker, Feb. 6, 2014
Richard Whittaker, Nov. 20, 2012
Lindsay Stafford Mader, July 31, 2019
Michael King, April 16, 2019
May 16, 2025
May 16, 2025
Election 2012, Travis County, Early Voting, Turnout