Posted on 02/19/2016 3:20:44 PM PST by justlittleoleme
Tarrant County voters are heading to the polls almost as if there were no tomorrow.
In the first three days of early voting, 28,292 local ballots -- 17,767 Republican and 10,525 Democrat -- were cast here in person or by mail for the March 1 presidential primaries, state election records show.
That topples the previous high tally of 26,190 set in 2008, when Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton battled for the presidential nomination deeper than expected into the primary season, spurring supporters locally and nationwide to a record high turnout.
Now Republicans are leading the way, heading to the polls in record numbers to weigh in on their crowded and contentious presidential primary.
"There has been a buildup for months about the presidential race and people are ready to vote," said Frank Phillips, Tarrant County's elections administrator.
"It's not unique to Tarrant County," he said. "It's going on across the state."
Statewide, 227,789 Texans, nearly 2.5 percent of registered voters, had cast ballots in person or by mail through the first three days of early voting. More than half were Republicans -- 123,736 to 104,053 Democrats, election records show.
Election officials have long said excitement about the race for the White House this year could motivate more than the usual number of the state's 14.1 million registered voters -- more than 1 million in Tarrant County alone -- to vote.
And this might just be the beginning.
"Typically, our first few days are in the ballpark of each other and then we start to see a steady climb," Phillips said. "Next Thursday and Friday could be our biggest turnout."
-snip-
Early voting runs through Feb. 26.
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
Texas USED to be a bastion of the Democrats...LBJ and such. Not any more. Hard to believe that they are now GOPers.
That nearly 70 percent surplus of Republican voters does not bode well for the Marxist party.
Which reminds me I need to go vote. Doing my part to keep the numbers climbing.
People are voting now not knowing whether Bush, Rubio, or Kasich is going to win the 'GOPe Primary'.
People could end up voting for candidates who may no longer be running by the time the formal primary takes places. Candidates like Carson, perhaps.
This is one of the reasons why Mitt won Michigan when Santorum had all the momentum: because idiots, and I do mean idiots, voted in Michigan early when Mitt looked like a sure thing.
How difficult is it really to show up and vote on election day? I thought Republicans fight tooth and nail against voting on weekends because they think that Republicans are more likely to go out of their way to vote on a work day. If that's the case, then why allow early voting? If we allow early voting, then why not just move voting to weekends so that most people are forced to wait until the last minute, so they have all the information they need to make an intelligent, rather than an idiotic, vote?
Austin is the SW campus of UC-Berkeley
I find it just weird for the same reason.
I voted early today.
They yelled at me for trying to vote twice.
Tarenty county = Democrats
We vote early. My husband is not able to wait in a line to vote. And, here, there are lines most of the day. So, we go the week or so before and vote. Sorry if that bothers you.
I see no point in early voting in a primary, but I do try to vote early in a general election. At my age I could die before election day and I want to make sure I vote before I go.
So I think you mean SE campus...
If you're a Democrat, you can vote both before and after! (in perpetuity...)
anybody else in Texas HD92?
Vote Stickland
SW...as in Texas is in the South West part of America
Just saying' for a FReeper friend. Take it in a lighthearted spirit.
Other than that and people in the armed forces, there should be no need for early voting.
Governments love it because it eases the stress on election day.
Incumbents love it because I'm guessing that most people that vote early vote for incumbents.
And vote fraudsters probably love it. In California early voting is done at a government office. Are there representatives of the parties sitting at these offices making sure that voting is done correctly, like they do on election day? I don't think so.
In GA voting started a couple weeks ago. I voted this week. The election officials seemed to think voting was slower than 2 years ago in the Perdue-Kingston-Nunn era. But they didnt have exact numbers.
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