Travis County’s early voter turnout could exceed 50% of registered voters

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — On the last day of early voting, eight polling places in Travis County will be open until 1 p.m. 10 p.m. The Travis County Registrar of Voters says more than 50% of voters may have cast a ballot before early voting ends.

By the end of the day Thursday, more than 431,000 Travis County voters had cast a ballot, with hundreds of thousands more expected on Tuesday.

On Friday, the wait to vote at the Ben Hur Shriner’s Temple on West Anderson Lane was just a few minutes at lunchtime.

“Oh, it was easy. Yeah. The line moved fast,” said Rip Sutton, who had intended to vote Thursday but came Friday instead. “This is a big presidential election year. A lot of people have opinions.,” I told Sutton. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. There’s a huge turnout,” he replied.

That’s what brought first-time voter Scout Goldsmith to the polls. She is 18 years old. “I’ve been waiting to vote since I was 10 years old and I saw Hillary Clinton lose, and my life has pretty much been overshadowed by politics ever since,” she said.

In fact, 41 million members of Gen Z nationwide – defined as people between the ages of 16 and 27 right now – are eligible to vote. A survey found that 82 percent were motivated to vote in this election, making Goldsmith’s vote part of a potentially very powerful group.

“Do you see a lot of enthusiasm in people your age?” I asked her. “I do, but I don’t know how much of it is just my circle of friends. I spend time with a lot of other like-minded people, and we all look forward to voting,” said she.

TOO| The Texas suburbs are seeing a surge in voter turnout as early voting draws to a close

In Travis County, they are part of what is expected to be more than 50% of Travis County voters who have cast a ballot before early voting ends at 6 p.m. 10 p.m. media showing turnout since 2008, the highest in 2016 and 2020.

“Today was the last day. So I wanted to take advantage of that and it’s important for me, you know, to vote for you know, our future, for my children’s future,” said Oltea Heresu on her way out of the parking lot.

City Council candidate Mike Siegel was among a handful of candidates who greeted people at the Ben Hur location. He says the early voters have made up their minds by the time they get here. “The people that come in are eager to get their business done. They already know who they’re voting for and why, and they don’t really want to talk to us,” he said.

There will be eight polling places in Travis County open until 6 p.m. 10 p.m. Go to votetravis.gov to find one near you.