Pat yourselves on the back, Travis County residents of 2008 – you have shattered our record for early voting. After 10 days of early voting, with two still to go, 229,575 of you have either voted in person or sent in a mail-in ballot, easily eclipsing the old high of 222,085 from the 2004 general election.
Of course, we were helped a bit by the fact that Austin’s population has continued growing at its ridiculous clip, and voter registration has gone up with it. In fact, the 37.7% of registered voters that have cast ballots thus far is still behind the 40.1% that voted early four years ago.
County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir is still pleading with residents who have not yet voted to get to the polls in the next two days – with our current number of registered voters at 609,224, she worries that if too many people put it off, the county’s election staff will be overwhelmed on Election Day (Nov. 4) and citizens will face long, discouraging lines.
Unlike Election Day voters, who must vote in their neighborhood precincts, early voters can go to any of the county’s 26 early voting locations, including the two “mega sites” – one north at 5501 Airport Blvd., the other south at 4534 West Gate Blvd. (West Tower Village #115).
This article appears in October 24 • 2008.