No question about it, the voters of Harris County are turning out in droves to vote early this year.
| 2012 | 2008 | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In Person | 362,827 | 314,252 | 48,575 (+15.5%) |
| Mail-In | 53,131 | 45,361 | 7,770 (+17.1%) |
| Total | 415,958 | 359,613 | 56,445 (+15.7%) |
More important to me is “where is the enthusiasm?” thus far. At this point seven days into early voting, it looks like a repeat of 2010 in Harris County, with traditionally strong Republican areas having the highest turnout and increase from 2008:
Harris County In-person Early Voting through Day 7
The Crosby location was added in 2010, so to get a better picture, I combine that with Kingwood.
I made it to four polling locations yesterday. Freeman Library in Clear Lake and Annex 25 in Pasadena had long lines out the door. IBEW 66 in Pasadena and Palm Center in Houston had no lines at all.
As I noted earlier, there was a rally held at the Shrine of the Madonna with a walk to the polls led by Minister Robert Muhammad. About a dozen people marched down MLK Blvd. to vote at the Palm Center. Interesting that County Attorney Vince Ryan was among them – remember, the rally was sponsored by Texans Together, a group that had multiple problems with registering voters in 2010. Instead of holding the group accountable, Mr. Ryan settled a lawsuit on a partisan basis.
A few pictures from the day:
