We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: You do know there’s an election on? After five days of early voting in the July 31 primary run-offs, turnout in Travis County topped out at a paltry 3.62%.

Even with the raw fury being poured into the GOP punch-ups, especially between Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and former solicitor general Ted Cruz, only 16,056 Travis residents (2.69% of the 597,479 registered voters) made it the Republican ballot.

Don’t laugh, Democrats. With little to energize the base, only 5,573 voters (0.93%) turned out. That means more Republicans voted on Friday than voted in the Dem election over a working week.

Now for the nail-biting for the GOP: With the election on Tuesday, is this just early-voting excitement? Turnout is already trailing almost 2,000 votes behind the May 29 first round. If it stays low, then accepted wisdom is that this benefits the far out fringe, and that ‘moderates’ like Dewhurst (hah!) will suffer without at least a few centrists on Tuesday.

Election day in the primary runoffs is July 31. Find a full list of voting locations at the <a href="http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20120731/polls.asp"target="_blank"Travis County Elections Division website. Read our endorsements here.

This article appears in July 27 • 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.