Ready For A Record Turnout

The early voting total for the largest 15 counties in Texas for 2008 was over 1.1 million more votes than the early voting totals for 2004 in those same counties. The 2004 total was 2,412,952, or 29.66% of the total registered voters. The 2008 total was 3,556,156, or 42.03% of total registered voters.

This excellent early vote total probably forecasts a huge total turnout for the 2008 election. Charles Kuffner at Off The Kuff tells us that the Texas Secretary of State is predicting that 68% of registered voters will have cast their ballot when the polls close today. That translates into about 9.1 million votes cast. Texas has 13.5 million registered voters. In the 2004 election, about 7.4 million voters cast a ballot, or slightly more than 56%.

Personally, I think the Secretary of State's estimate is low. The huge early vote turnout wasn't in just the largest counties. Here in Potter and Randall counties, voters came out in record numbers to vote early also, and this was happening across the state. I think it is very possible that Texas will turn out 75% or more of registered voters, and that would mean over 10 million voters casting a ballot this year.

I hope we get that many total voters. For Democrats, the larger the turnout the better the results.