Austinites eager to vote

An unusually high number of voters showed up at various early voting locations Tuesday, apparently eager to cast ballots in Austin’s first-ever single-member district election or other races. Whatever the reason, the total Tuesday was 10,022. The two-day total now stands at 27,203, or 4.17 percent of Travis County’s registered voters. Compare that to the second day of early voting on May 2, 2012, when In Fact Daily reported that 4,200 Travis County voters had cast ballots in that year’s races, mostly in Austin. That was when Brigid Shea was running against Lee Leffingwell for mayor, and Laura Pressley was trying to unseat Mike Martinez. Both Shea and Pressley are on the ballot this year, too, but a lot has changed, including the seats they are trying to win. Voters at the Randall’s at Research and Braker  in District 10 (not in District 6, as we originally reported Tuesday) turned out in heavy numbers once again Tuesday. The site saw 1,067 votes cast. At the HEB on South Congress, poll workers seemed very pleased with Monday’s turnout of 496 and Tuesday’s turnout of 444, but it is impossible to know which South Austin district got the most votes there because it serves District 5, 3 and 9. At the Parque Zaragoza Recreation Center, 2608 Gonzales St., which sits in District 3, 170 voted on Monday and 115 on Tuesday.