Early Voting Up In Amarillo - Down In 15 Biggest Counties

Amarillo is different than most fairly large cities in that it rests in two different counties. The southern half of the city is in Randall County, and the northern half is in Potter County. I'm not sure why, but both of these counties are bucking the trend in voting set by the 15 largest Texas counties.

According to records from the Texas Secretary of State, the 15 largest Texas counties are showing a drop in early voting this year. While more mail-in ballots have been cast, the cumulative total is down. It's no surprise that the early vocal totals would be less than in 2012, since off-year elections usually produce fewer voters -- but the 2014 totals are even below the totals recorded in 2010. Here are the early voting totals for the 15 largest Texas counties for the last three primaries:

2010
mail-in total...............42,627
cumulative total...............491,116

2012
mail-in total...............63,981
cumulative total...............565,538

2014
mail-in total...............77,586
cumulative total...............470,723

The 2014 total is only through the 27th and early voting goes to through the 28th, so one more day needs to be added. It is possible that the 2014 totals could equal those of 2010. Even so, that is a disappointment -- because the governor's race is wide open this year (without an incumbent running), and I would have thought that would encourage more voters to cast a ballot. That doesn't seem to be happening though.

But things are different here in Amarillo -- both in Potter and Randall counties. Both of these counties are showing a big increase in early voting -- and I'm talking about a big increase over 2012 numbers (not the off-year 2010 numbers). With one day left to report in the 2014 totals, the numbers look like this:

2012
Potter County total...............2,006
Randall County total...............5,136

2014
Potter County total...............4,098
Randall County total...............7,846

That's a 104.3% increase in early voting for Potter County, and a 52.8% increase in Randall County -- with one day left in early voting. Potter County has received 1,032 mail-in ballots (about 25.2% of the total early votes), and Randall County has received 1,398 mail-in ballots (about 17.8% of the total early votes).