Driven by the hotly contested Democratic presidential primary, the final early voting numbers in Travis County were through the roof. After 12 days of early voting, 115,316 ballots were cast, either at the polls or by mail. That’s 20.75% of Travis County’s registered voters. Similar numbers have been reported statewide.
That blows the doors off the county’s previous early voting record for a primary, the 32,206 from 2004 (we passed that way back on day 4). In fact, it even tops the 92,123 total vote count (early voting plus election day) from that primary! It’s also well over the 99,945 who voted early in the 2006 general election. However, it still falls short of the 222,085 who cast early in the 2004 general election, when Democrats were desperate to get rid of George W. Bush.
96,963 of you voted in the Democratic primary; 18,353 participated on the Republican side.
For those of you that voted early: Don’t forget that you still need to report to your precinct voting location after the polls close at 7pm on election day for your precinct convention. If you’re a Democrat, you’ll want to participate in precinct caucus system that is very important to the presidential race. If you’re a Republican, you’ll want to vote on resolutions to be sent to the state party convention and other party business.
For those of you that didn’t vote early: Best of luck with what are likely to be long lines on March 4. Please don’t let frustration dissuade you from voting.
This article appears in February 29 • 2008.