Today is the start of Early Voting for the 2011 elections. It will run through next Friday, November 4, with Election Day on Tuesday the 8th. You can see the EV schedule and locations here, or check out Greg‘s Google map for more details.
By now, I hope everyone who plans to vote has a decent idea of who they plan to vote for. As always, you can refer to my 2011 Election page for interviews, finance reports, and endorsements. There’s lots of other information out there as well, such as the LWV Guide and candidate forum videos, and several of my blogging colleagues have made their recommendations as well. The rest is up to you.
There are obviously many races worth watching, but the first thing I’ll be keeping an eye on is the turnout levels for early voting. The conventional wisdom, with which I largely agree, is that this will be a dismal year for turnout. I’d put the over/under at 100,000 votes, and I won’t be surprised if it’s the under. Here’s a spreadsheet I put together during the two EV periods in 2009, which can serve as a basis for comparison. There were 80,000 early votes cast for the regular election in 2009. We’ll see if we get half that many – my guess is we do, but not by much.
As for predictions, I’m going to let you presume that I’m a fool rather than confirm it by opening my mouth, but if you want to take a guess at what’s going to happen, knock yourself out in the comments. Greg put down his markers if you want to compare. In the meantime, vote wisely, and good luck to all the candidates. Here’s a press release from the County Clerk, and Stace has more.
in at large #5-theres a run off,but cm jones doesnt make it,she packs this election cycle,heres why,”robinson” has the upper hand in the name id in this race-plus she takes heavy police and fire assoc and union backing/jack christie hits the number in the second position,jo is third.
laurie robinson and jack christie in run off-jolanda jones unseated.
at large # 1 scott boates with the backing of paul bettencourt sends cm costello to familar ground-a run off.one 2 watch
at large # 5 with the hcco backing eric dick,this race goes to a run off with bo fraga and eric dick.
noriega and carmona and j brad batteu-this race goes to a run off.
district c-surprisingly its not cweren that makes a splash in this race-its the airline pilot turned law student josh verde that shows strong but under elen cohen=elen cohen wins with 53 percent of the vote-no run off
district b-canidate phillip paul bryant wins the election at 51 percent-no run off.
respectfully joshua ben bullard
mayor annise parker gets 59 percent of the vote.
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