Early voting continues slowly

Voters in Travis and Williamson counties continue to trickle into early voting locations. As of Sunday night, just 8,967, or 1.04 percent, of Travis County’s registered voters had cast ballots in the Republican primary and 21,126 had voted in the Democratic primary. Total turnout so far is 30,093, or 3.5 percent of registered voters. Both Republican and Democratic parties have been working to get voters to the polls. Matt Mackowiak, chair of the Travis County Republican Party, said via email, “We’ve sent thousands of emails and tens of thousands of robocalls and texts, as well as social media posts,” urging people to vote. Democrats are doing all of those things as well. In Williamson County, 4.34 percent of registered voters had cast ballots by Sunday night. More Republicans were turning out than Democrats, with 11,134 Republicans and 6,261 Democrats having voted by the end of the day. Polling places were closed Monday in observance of Presidents Day, but will be open at 7 a.m. on Tuesday. Early voting continues through Friday. Election day is on March 1, one week from today.