Voters continue to flock to the polls

Travis County residents continued to vote in heavy numbers Thursday. The total for the first three days of early voting now stands at 140,588 in Travis County, or more than 16 percent of those registered to vote. On Thursday, 39,227 Travis County voters cast ballots in person. That number compares to 35,873 on Tuesday and 38,119 on Wednesday. Overall turnout Thursday, including mail ballots received, was 40,446. That number is slightly lower than the total for Wednesday, which was 41,675. With Tuesday’s arrival of 22,577 mail ballots, that first day still holds the record with 58,467 total votes cast in Travis County. Nearly 1,500 voters cast ballots Thursday at the Austin Central Library, the Ben Hur Shrine Center and the Pflugerville ISD Rock Gym. Voters also continued to flock to East Austin polling places, including the Carver Branch Library, where 1,128 voters cast their ballots, and the Dan Ruiz Branch Library, which recorded 1,014 votes cast. The South Austin Recreation Center also recorded more than 1,200 ballots cast. So far, Travis County has received more than 21,000 votes than were cast in the first three days of early voting in 2016.