Calling all late early voters

Enthusiasm for voting continues to wane compared to last week, with 27,656 Travis County residents casting their ballots yesterday (about 3.79% of the county’s registered voters) compared to 47,019 (6.45 percent of registered voters) on Oct. 24, the first day of early voting for the Nov. 8 election. The drop, which was slightly bigger on Monday, had County Clerk Dana DaBeauvoir lamenting the “Halloween Mystery of the Vanishing Voters” in a press release sent out Tuesday. Nonetheless, with 37.47 percent of the county’s voters having cast their ballots so far, this year’s showing remains strong – only 37.39 percent showed up for the entirety of early voting in 2012, after all. Plus, DeBeauvoir is expecting a boost on Friday. “We won’t be surprised to see up to two times the number of votes cast on the final day of Early Voting compared to the first days of the period,” she said in the press release – which is why she’s encouraging people to get ahead the crowds and vote before then. Get your sample ballots and voting location info here.