The polls are closed, early voting numbers are in, and you can already stick a fork in this election: Everything is passing handily. The least popular so far is Proposition 16, and that’s passing with 71.87% voting “In Favor.” Those results aren’t likely to change.
But WOW, this is interesting: While all the props are also passing in Travis County, the “in favor” numbers are lower, significantly in some cases. Most notable: Prop. 15, for the creation of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas – which was pushed heavily by local sports idol and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong – only has 51.27% of the early Travis vote! Hmm, is Austin’s hero-worship of Armstrong not as great as we thought?
There is an actual candidate election to watch tonight: a special election for House District 97, which covers the southwestern corner of Tarrant County. The seat came open when Republican Anna Mowery decided to retire early. The Democrats would certainly love for this seat to edge them ever closer to the majority in the Texas House – they are currently six seats away – and tonight’s election pits Dem Dan Barrett against six Republicans. After the early vote numbers, Barrett appears headed for a runoff – he currently has 32%; the leading Republican thus far is Bob Leonard at 22%.
This article appears in November 2 • 2007.