Burnt Orange Report

Over a Million Served

By Jim Dallas

It's official: over a million Texans (at least 13 percent) have already voted by early ballot -- in just the "Top 15" Counties, which contain about two-thirds of the state's registered voters.

So the true number may have already surpassed 1.5 million, although we really won't know about the other 239 counties in Texas until Election Day. Again, this is just an extrapolation, so the overall statistic would still be about 13 percent turnout.

Karl-Thomas hinted that the million-vote milestone would likely be broken over the weekend, and he was correct.

Turnout so far has been highest in Collin, Travis and Williamson counties.

My observation is that usually about a third of the vote will be cast early, depending on the type of election. In 2000, registered voter turnout was 51.8%, and early vote turnout was about 20 percent.

Given similar ratios, we're likely to surpass that. In Texas I think we'll exceed 55%, and perhaps get closer to 60%.