A total of 100,632 voters participated before early voting wrapped up Oct. 29, setting a new high for the county in an off-year November election, according to data from the Travis County Clerk's office. That total makes up 11.84% of the 849,679 registered county voters. The vast majority, 95,230 people, voted in-person at one of the more than two dozen early voting sites throughout the county. More than 5,300 people voted by mail, and just 35 limited ballots were cast. Voting picked up at the tail end of the 12-day early voting period with more than one-third of the total ballots cast in the final two days, Oct. 28 and 29.
Northwest Austin's Ben Hur Shrine Center saw the most early votes cast in person with more than 12,300, followed by Southwest Austin's Austin Oaks Church with just under 10,000. The county's Del Valle community center Northlake Church Hope Center in Lago Vista and the Manor ISD administration building were the least-attended in-person sites with less than 1,000 ballots cast at each.
Among the most noteworthy local items on the ballot are Austin's two city propositions, the first centered around a much-debated police staffing requirement and the second allowing voters to weigh in on a potential parkland trade. Voters are also deciding on eight statewide constitutional amendments.
The county's early voter count of just over 100,000 is well below last November's turnout amid the 2020 presidential election when 553,290 people participated, representing nearly two-thirds of registered county voters at the time. However, both the voter total and turnout percentage are higher than every other odd-numbered early voting total in Travis County through the 2010s, even with no countywide or city of Austin candidates on the ballot. Off-year turnout has not reached double digits over the past decade before this fall. Travis County polls open at 7 a.m. on Election Day, Nov. 2. Registered voters may cast a ballot in person at any of the county's 140 vote centers.
