To see the best set of compiled charts and data from the Texas early voting period, we can thank the Texas Ophthalmological Association. The final Friday of voting is not yet included as it hasn't been reported for every county by the Secretary of State. Still, the trends are unmistakable.
And with today and tomorrow left for the early vote, this is surely a pretty cool thing to read from the Travis County Clerk's office:
Travis County voters broke previous Early Voting turnout records Wednesday. More than 229,500 voters have cast a ballot, topping the 2004 record of 222,085. More than 15,000 votes had been cast mid-way through the voting period Thursday.
Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said that vote totals are steadily climbing toward what she expects to be a fantastic finish to the Early Voting period on Friday.
"We won't be surprised to see 50,000 voters on the final day--about twice the first-day turnout," DeBeauvoir said. "We're still trying to spread the word that voting early is going to be more convenient than voting on Election Day."
If you haven't voted yet, make sure you set some time to do so later today, tomorrow, or Tuesday. If you want to vote in costume tomorrow, feel free. (Just don't dress as a party, candidate, with a mask, or with mask on, or with a weapon.) Regardless of whether you look like yourself when you cast a ballot or not, I think we all know the importance of your ballot being cast.
Yesterday afternoon I was running some errands for work and decided to try to vote.
I didn't know how crowded the polling places would be, or how long it might take. I usually like to vote on Election Day. There's something exciting about voting on that day, with millions of other people, that really makes you feel like you're part of the democratic process. This time for some reason, I wasn't going to take any chances. I wanted to take care of it early.
I drove by the Carver Library on Rosewood Avenue in East Austin. There was a parking place right out front, so I pulled in. I wasn't sure whether I went into the library or the museum, and there was a sign right there saying "vote in the library" so I walked into the library building.
Right inside a lady asked me if I was here to vote, and I said yes, and she guided me to the right room. There was no line. There were about 5 other people voting right then, but no one was waiting in line. I asked if there had been a lot of people voting today, and was told that many people were but that I just happened to be there during a lull. "Come back at 4:00 and we'll be packed," someone said.
The poll workers checked my registration card, confirmed my address, got me to sign on the dotted line and gave me the little slip that tells you what code to punch into the voting machine. I wasn't asked to show my driver's license.
About two minutes after I pulled up in my car, I was voting. No angst-ridden hand wringing at the voting machine for me - I knew how to operate the e-slate machine, and I knew who and what I was voting for (and against).
I completed my ballot, cast it, affixed my "I voted" sticker to my chest and, with a warm 'goodbye' from the polling place staffers and a 'thanks for what y'all do' from me to the poll workers, I was out the door and on my way to another errand. It couldn't have been easier, friendlier or more satisfying.
You can find your early voting location here: https://voterinfo.sos.state.tx.us/voterws/viw/faces/SearchSelectionPolling.jsp
Rep. Rick Noriega will be in town Monday night for our early voting kickoff rally at Victory Grill.
The latest polls show Noriega is only down 6 points against John Cornyn, and he's got the momentum. With your help, we can win this important race!
Early Vote Kickoff Rally Monday, October 20
5:00 - 8:00pm
Guest Speaker - Rick Noriega
Live Music - W.C. Clark
Victory Grill
1104 East 11th
RSVP on Facebook
This will be one of the last times Noriega will be in Austin, so don't miss this exciting opportunity. Vote early, and then come party with your fellow Democrats!
(There are few times when political stories touch the soul. But I have read this post, and all the links therein, a couple times now, and I have an emotional upwelling that is indescribable. My hat is off to the teachers for their understanding, the students for their courage, and Dan Grant for walking with the students in this 7.3 mile march for voter rights. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Early voting starts today in Texas. In Waller County, a primarily rural county about 60 miles outside Houston, the county made the decision to offer only one early voting location: at the County Courthouse in Hempstead, TX, the county seat.
Prairie View A&M students organized to protest the decision, because they felt it hindered their ability to vote. For background, Prairie View A&M is one of Texas' historically Black universities. It has a very different demographic feel than the rest of the county. There has been a long history of dispute over what the students feel is disenfranchisement. There was a lot of outrage in 2006, when students felt they were unfairly denied the right to vote when their registrations somehow did not get processed.
Waller County has faced numerous lawsuits involving voting rights in the past 30 years and remains under investigation by the Texas Attorney General's Office based on complaints by local black leaders. Those allegations, concerning the November 2006 general election, related to voting machine failures, inadequate staffing and long delays for voting results.
The article adds,
"I was angry after registering to vote in the 2006 election only to be turned away at the voting booth," said sophomore Dee Dee Williams.
So what are the students doing?
1000 students, along with an additional 1000 friends and supporters, are this morning walking the 7.3 miles between Prairie View and Hempstead in order to vote today. According to the piece I saw on the news (there's no video up, so I can't link to it), the students plan to all vote today. There are only 2 machines available at the courthouse for early voting, so they hope to tie them up all day and into the night.
One of the larger challenges for first time voters and/or infrequent voters is figuring out where you vote.
The Election Day polling sites and hours, and the Early Voting polling sites and hours do NOT necessarily coincide in any way, shape or form.
Your local newspaper should be particularly helpful, but there are a few sources at the Texas Secretary of State's Office that SHOULD be the most accurate way to get accurate information for some of the "off the beaten path" counties.
For the few counties that have a website for their election administrators:
http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/links.shtml#County For all the rest:
http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/county.shtml
In case you've been living in your bat cave, we at BOR wanted you to be aware that the early voting period for municipal elections are underway. The early voting period runs through the weekend and will end on May 8. Election day itself is May 12.
Many of you will be voting on mayoral and city council races. School board races are also on the slate. Texas will also offer a constitutional amendment to allow tax credits to the elderly and disabled.
If you do not know where to vote, or need the hours of voting, check with your local county elections website. Here are the links to some of the larger counties:
Burnt Orange Report will also be offering its endorsements in several races throughout the state. BOR's senior staff will be making the decision on who to endorse. That is still to come.
I am Billy D. Stallings, a student at Austin Community college and Director of Communications for ACC's Student Government. In my direct experience at ACC, Dr. James McGuffee is the one candidate for the Board of Trustees who has taken the time to reach out to the student body and ask for input directly from those to whom the school is most valuable. Dr. McGuffee is the one candidate who really "gets it" when it comes to what is needed to achieve the college's mission of making higher education accessible to people across the socioeconomic spectrum, facilitating that opportunity for people of all ages and incomes. ACC is an institution which represents not only an opportunity for a better future for thousands of people in central Texas, but the culmination of decades of hard work for the college's establishment and perpetuation by the faculty, administration, and concerned citizenry. Unlike other candidates, James McGuffee has background, experience and knowledge specific to Austin Community College which uniquely qualifies him to serve on the board. It is for these reasons that I will be voting for Dr. James McGuffee for place 8 on the ACC Board of Trustees, and that I implore you to do the same. ACC has given me a future that I would never have had access to otherwise, and I believe Dr. McGuffee is the right person to protect that opportunity for the future.
