We’ve completed the first business week of early voting, and the spreadsheet has been updated to show the totals so far. Thursday was the slowest day so far, with 2889 in-person ballots, which I attribute to the torrential rain in the morning – I don’t know about you, but my office building was sparsely attended that day, and I presume a bunch of folks who might have voted decided to put it off. Friday was the strongest day as 4561 people showed up. That brings the in-person total to 19,366, or just a smidge more than the 19,192 who had showed up in 2003.
Counting mail ballots, 18.5% of all early votes had been cast by this time in 2003. If we assume that the same proportion holds here, a total of 125,227 in-person and mail ballots will be cast by the end of next week. Here’s what that translates to at various levels of early vote participation.
EV share Total votes Total Houston ===================================== 25% 500,908 385,699 30% 417,423 321,416 35% 357,791 275,499 40% 313,067 241,062 45% 278,282 214,277
“Total Houston” is the Houston share of the Harris County total, assuming that 77% of the vote comes from Houston. I think the 35 and 40% scenarios are the most likely, but who knows? Maybe all the tit-for-tatting going on between Locke and Brown has revved up interest a bit.
A press release from County Clerk Beverly Kaufman, commenting on the first four days of Early Voting, is beneath the fold. I think she got her numbers confused between 2003 and this year, but no big deal. The big question now isn’t “How many early votes will there be” as much as it is “How much of the vote will be early”. What’s your guess for that?
One third of Early Voting Period Done: Voting down a little compared to last comparable Harris County Joint Election
Houston, TX, – One-third of the early voting period for the Nov. 3 Joint Election in Harris County has passed and as of Thursday, Oct. 22nd a total of 14,805 persons had been processed for voting. The total is 351 voters, or 2.4 percent, less than at the same point in the Nov. 2003 Harris County Joint Election, the last comparable election which included an open City of Houston mayoral contest.
“The early voting totals this year confirm what has been true historically. The odd-numbered year elections are not as compelling to voters as Presidential elections”, said Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman, the chief elections officer of the County. By this time during the early voting period for the Nov. 2008 Election, 170,629 voters had been qualified to vote.
According to the County Clerk, this election may not be as captivating, but may be as important. Aside from the State, fourteen political subdivision within Harris County have items on the Nov. 3 ballot, the largest being the City of Houston. There a total of 40 contests and 20 propositions combined, the most prominent items being the State constitutional amendments and the Houston mayoral race.
“All voters who choose to participate in this election, whether they reside in Houston or other political subdivisions, will see the 11 state propositions before they see anything else on the ballot. So voter should review the whole ballot carefully to make sure they do not miss an election“, reminded the County Clerk. Texas law provides that anytime a Federal or State election is on the ballot those races should appear first in the order.
“Including the upcoming weekend, voters have 7 days left to cast their ballots at any of the 37 early voting locations in Harris County.” For more information regarding early voting, voters may visit www.harrisvotes.com or call 713.755.6965.
The Clerk also reminded voters that in all elections a voter’s ballot only includes elections offered by the political subdivisions which are connected to the address in which a voter is registered to vote. In this instance, it means that only voters who are registered to vote at an address inside Houston proper can vote in the City of Houston elections.
To find out which political subdivisions are connected to a voting address, a voter may visit the following link on the Tax Assessor Collectors website: http://www.hctax.net/ASP/streetguide/frameset.asp