Early voting for the primary runoffs is going on right now, but today is the last day for it. See here for the locations – the time is 7 AM to 7 PM – and take advantage of your last chance to vote early. You can of course vote on Tuesday, May 24, at a precinct location – but be aware that many precinct locations will be combined and consolidated, as this is a low-turnout affair. Democratic precinct locations for Runoff Day on May 24 are here, and Republican locations are here. Don’t just assume you can show up at your usual place, or even the place you voted in March. There’s a good chance you will be wrong about that. Check first, then vote.
Remember that you can vote in the runoffs even if you did not vote in a primary. If you did vote in a primary, you may only vote in that party’s runoff, but if you did not vote in March you may choose either, just as you could have chosen either in March. As I said in the first paragraph, turnout has been modest so far. Here are the daily totals through Thursday. A grand total of 40,484 votes have been cast, with 17,305 on the Democratic side and 23,179 for the GOP. Note that in each case, nearly 2/3 of the vote so far has been by mail. Only 6,597 Dems and 8,212 Republicans have voted in person. Given that, I think Stan Stanart’s pre-voting prediction of 50K for the Rs is going to miss by a lot, but we’ll see. The last day of early voting is always the heaviest. Have you voted yet? My wife and I stopped at West Gray on the way home from work yesterday. It was quite dead – there were maybe three other voters there with us, and no doubt thanks to the rain, only three people in the parking lot handing out push cards. What was it like when you voted?
I was the first to vote at the new early voting site in the Heights, at 1435 Beall, the SPJST Lodge. Once folks figure out how to get there, off East TC Jester near 15th, behind Timbergrove Softball field, I predict this new site will relieve a lot of the overcrowding at the West Gray location.