Early Voting Smashes Record In Texas

Since the primary and caucus season started in Iowa, there have been huge turnouts in every state. And the huge majority of those voters were turning out for the Democrats. I wondered at the time if this would happen in Texas also.

Texas is one of the reddest states in the country. It is so red that there's not a single Democrat holding statewide office, and both houses of the legislature have significant Republican majorities. But I shouldn't have worried.

Early voting is now over in Texas, and the numbers are in for the 15 most populated counties in the state. The number of voters didn't just set a new record, it absolutely smashed the old record. In 2000, these counties had a turnout of 315,000 voters, and in 2004, slightly less than 300,000 voted. Around a million people voted in these 15 counties in 2008 (959,666 as of Thursday).

Once again, the huge majority of those voters chose to participate in the Democratic primary. A whopping 717,469 voters chose the Democrats. Even more encouraging is the fact that this was not an off-year for Republican's voting. The Republican turnout was high (242,197), but still less than half of the Democratic turnout.

Of course, there are 239 other counties is Texas, and that could alter the percentages a bit. But probably not by much -- the huge majority of people (and voters) live in the the biggest 15 counties.

It'll be interesting to see if the same voting pattern holds true on election day next Tuesday. I suspect it will. Now we just have to wait and see if the Democrats can get these people back to the polls in November. If they can, it would mean a huge change in Texas, including a new Democratic senator (Rick Noriega).

This has been a very interesting campaign so far. I can hardly wait for November.