Turnout on the first day of early voting in the mayoral and Council runoff elections was light, with less than 1 percent of registered voters casting a ballot. Some 5,184 votes were cast Monday; 3,570 ballots were cast in person, while 1,614 ballots were mailed. The voting  location with the largest number of first-day votes was the Randalls at Braker and Research, with 536. The Randalls at MoPac and William Cannon accepted 479 votes, while the Ben Hur Shrine Center had 387. Some 383 votes were cast at mobile voting locations. Early voting for the runoff elections runs through Dec. 12. For polling locations and other information, go to Travis County Elections page.

Greg Foster, the community advocate to the Austin Regional Intelligence Center, told Public Safety Commissioners on Monday that the fusion center’s steps toward increased transparency have impressed him. ARIC aims to “maximize the ability to detect, prevent, apprehend, and respond to criminal and terrorist activity” via shared gathering intelligence between partner organizations, according to the Austin Police Department website. Foster said ARIC now posts the minutes online from ARIC Privacy Policy Advisory Committee meetings, and that the fusion center responds to open records requests in a timely fashion. “I’ll give credit where credit is due,” he said. Activists have targeted ARIC and other fusion centers for potentially infringing on civil liberties. No civil liberty activists spoke out against ARIC at Monday’s meeting, which Public Safety Commission Chair Kim Rossmo said he “found amazing.”

Today is the first day of early voting for the Dec. 16 runoff elections. Voters may vote at any early voting location in the county in which they are registered. Voters are required to show a current photo ID, unless voting by mail. There are runoff elections for Austin mayor, Districts 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 10, Austin Community College Place 2, and AISD Board of Trustees’ at-large position and Districts 1 and 6. More information for Travis County voters can be found here.

With their own elections squared away, Congressman Lloyd Doggett and Travis County Judge-elect Sarah Eckhardt have time to help fellow Democrats. They will be hosting a fundraiser for District 8 candidate Ed Scruggs, a Democrat who is running against Republican Ellen Troxclair in the Dec. 16 runoff. The party will be at the home of former state Rep. Valinda Bolton, 5000 Wood Creek Road, from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Scruggs, a longtime Democrat, founded the Circle C Democrats. Early voting in this and all runoff races begins today. Doggett has already helped District 4 candidate Greg Casar by participating in block walking and a fundraiser. Republicans state Rep. Paul Workman and Commissioner Gerald Daugherty are among the elected officials supporting Troxclair.

Tonight, in a follow-up to the 2014 Housing Market Study, the city will host a closer look at the study and get into what impediments Austin has to fair housing. The presentation, by BBC Research & Consulting Managing Director Heidi Aggeler, will be followed by a question and answer period and is open to the public. The presentation will take place at 6 p.m. at City Hall. A second presentation that promises to “dig deeper into the data” of the study will take place at 8 a.m. Tuesday. That meeting will be held at the LifeWorks building, 835 N. Pleasant Valley Road.

For those who missed it, last week the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce released its 2014 Central Texas Hispanic Business Market Landscape. The report, which surveyed 9,693 Hispanic-owned businesses in the region that generate $4.8 billion in revenue, predicted that by 2020 that number could climb to 51,000 businesses that would generate $12.8 billion in revenue. At a news conference last week, Economic Development Department Director Kevin Johns said the report was a “critical step” toward developing a realistic analysis of the population of Hispanic businesses. “I think the future is rapidly approaching for the Hispanic business community,” Johns said. “I think if we all pull together, this is going to be a major part of the solution in creating equality and growth in Austin’s future.”

As a special gift to Austin Monitor readers (and writers and editors), we are giving you the next two days off to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday however you choose. We will see you bright and early Monday, with updates on everything that transpired in the meantime. Have a great holiday!

The Travis County Democratic Party announced Tuesday that it is officially endorsing the Democrats running in each of four Austin City Council runoff races as well as the Democrat running for AISD Trustee in District 1. County Democratic Party Chair Jan Soifer will hold a City Hall news conference at noon today to discuss the endorsements. The Democrats endorsed AISD Trustee candidate Edmund “Ted” Gordon as well as Council candidates Greg Casar in District 4, Jimmy Flannigan in District 6, Ed Scruggs in District 8 and Mandy Dealey in District 10. The party did not endorse in Districts 7 and 3 because there are two Democrats in those races. Soifer released the following statement: “The City of Austin is a Democratic stronghold in this state, much to the dismay of the GOP. Republicans have targeted our City Hall and our School Board as places where they can get a toehold. They want to make Austin hostile to social justice, women’s rights, LGBT rights, civil rights, the environment, and adequately funded quality public education for all.” Republicans would argue that they have been shut out of city government for a very long time and will fight to get their candidates elected, particularly Ellen Troxclair in District 8, Don Zimmerman in District 6 and Sheri Gallo in District 10. It is not clear how hard they will fight for Laura Pressley, who sometimes votes in Republican primaries and sometimes in Democratic primaries but has a reputation for ideas outside of the mainstream of either party.

The 48th annual Zilker Holiday Tree lighting will take place at 6 p.m. Sunday in Zilker Park. After that, the tree will be lit every night from 6 p.m. to midnight Dec. 1 until Dec. 31. Sunday’s ceremony will feature emcee Quita Culpepper, toy collection by Operation Blue Santa for its toy drive, music by the Austin Civic Wind Ensemble and the Barton Hills Choir, and on-site food vendors. The tree will be lit by the children who won the 2014 art contest, as is tradition. The Zilker Holiday Tree is produced by the Austin Parks and Recreation Department and Austin Energy, and will be presented by the Trail of Lights Foundation and GoogleFiber. More information is available on the event’s website.

Unlike the last go-round when ChangeAustin.org endorsed only Jason Meeker for City Council, the group has selected its preferred candidates in several runoff races. Based on the same questionnaire used for the November election, the group has endorsed Ora Houston (District 1), Susana Almanza (District 3), Greg Cesar AND Laura Pressley (District 4), Leslie Pool (District 7) and Ed Scruggs (District 8).

The Austin Monitor, KUT and KLRU invite you to join us in Studio 6A at the KLRU Studios for a live televised debate between runoff mayoral candidates Steve Adler and Mike Martinez. The debate will be moderated by Monitor publisher Mike Kanin and Jennifer Stayton, host of Morning Edition on KUT 90.5, Austin’s NPR station. The event will take place Dec. 7. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. The event is free, but an RSVP (available here) is required. If you are unable to attend in person, be sure to watch live on KLRU!

District 7 candidate Jeb Boyt’s campaign has complained that his opponent, Leslie Pool, “has been skirting the law to cut her tax payments.” The complaint stems from Pool claiming a homestead exemption on a home she owns on Shoal Creek Boulevard. Her domestic partner, Will Grover, owns a rental property on Fleetwood Drive in South Austin. According to Boyt, Grover is also claiming a homestead exemption, which is not allowed because the property is rental property. Mykle Tomlinson, campaign manager for Boyt, found the information on the financial statement she filed with the city. Grover is also paying Pool back on a loan she made to him to pay off the mortgage on the rental property, Pool reported. Tomlinson said, “Ms. Pool has been to multiple forums and sent mail touting her views on property taxes and tax reform. All the while, she has not been paying her fair share. Candidates should be judged by their actions, not by what they will say to get elected.” According to Tomlinson, the extra homestead exemption saved Grover and Pool about $500 last year. However, Pool said last night that she did not know that her partner was still claiming a homestead exemption on his property. She said Grover is paying back whatever he owes immediately. Pool added, “I just think it’s really unfortunate that my significant other had to be dragged into the campaign.”