Early voting has begun in Travis County, and the elections division has already started totaling up the numbers. But first, let’s clarify something: Straight ticket voting does not mean you voted yes on the ballot initiatives.

If you’ve heard that from someone, they’re wrong. KEYE accidentally started that rumor yesterday, and have since apologized. However, it doesn’t hurt to remind people that there are lots of ballot initiatives and local non-partisan races, like Austin ISD and Austin Community College, at the bottom of the ballot. Don’t flake out and leave them unmarked. Keep going, and vote in everything.

So, now with the numbers:

Travis County Voters In Person Mail In Ballots Total %age registered voters
Day One 16.378 4,557 20,935 3.3
Total 16.378 4,557 20,935 3.3

How does that compare to the presidential elections of 2008? Very hard to tell, but four years ago 302,426 voters turned out early across the 12 days of early voting, accounting for almost three-quarters of all votes cast. Turnout will have to pick up dramatically to match that, but then again, it’s so early that it’s impossible to tell whether people are staying home – or just stayed at home yesterday.

What we do know is that the usual suspects – Ben Hur Shriners Hall, the Randalls at Research and Braker, Westlake Hills, and Brodie and Slaughter – are getting a lot of traffic. So is the early voting location at Highland Mall, which accounted for almost one in 10 of all in-person votes cast.

Don’t forget, early voting for the Nov. 6 election runs through Nov. 2. If you need a mail-in ballot, you still have until Oct. 30 to make your application, but it must be received – not postmarked – by that date.

For more about the elections, go here.

You can read our endorsements here.

This article appears in October 19 • 2012.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.