Early Texas Voting Results start to point to heavy Obama influence

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Summary
. . . 4 Days of early voting already exceeds early voting records in the 2004 GENERAL ELECTION

. . . Heavy demand for democrat ballots in Republican districts

. . . Demand for ballots up 1000+% in Democratic districts

. . . U of Texas sees 23,000 students register in 5 weeks

. . . Students wait 10 hours in line to vote in Early voting



Houston Chronicle Reports huge Early voting turn out - More democrats have voted in 4 days than in all 2004 General Election

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5563949.html

Harris County residents have cast a record number of early ballots this week, propelled largely by a fiercely competitive Democratic presidential contest, elections and political observers say.

After just four days of early voting, which began Tuesday and ends Feb. 29, the number of in-person votes has surpassed the total cast in early voting in the 2004 presidential primary.

As of the end of voting Friday, 50,997 voters — 38,214 Democrats and 12,783 Republicans — had been to the polls. A total of 35,381 voters cast ballots in person during the entire 2004 early voting period.

"I've never seen anything like it. I really haven't," she said. "When I looked at 10:30 a.m., and we've already voted 3,000 people, I said, 'Holy cow. We're going to have some turnout.' "

And in Fort Bend County, the number of early ballots already has surpassed the total of all early voting in 2006, when a little more than 5,000 votes were cast. As of Friday afternoon, 9,699 ballots — 6,491 Democratic and 3,208 Republican — had been cast, interim elections administrator Robin Heiman said. There are roughly 270,000 registered voters in Fort Bend County.

Dick Murray, a University of Houston political scientist, said he has seen evidence that Republicans are crossing over, perhaps because of Obama's bipartisan pitch.

For example, in Kingwood's precinct 469, where 82 percent of voters cast ballots for President Bush in 2004, Murray said Democrats by midweek were outvoting Republicans 4 to 1.

In another Chronicle article about Latino Voting
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5563631.html


In Harris County, Clinton looks to mirror her success in Super Tuesday primaries, when the New York senator won 64 percent of Hispanic voters.

In California, where Latino voters made up 30 percent of the voters, 69 percent voted for Clinton and 29 percent for Obama.

''This is the state both campaigns need — him to keep moving and her to stay in the game," said Lydia Camarillo, vice president of the Southwest Voters Registration and Education Project in San Antonio, which registers Hispanic voters.
Obama campaign spokesman Nick Shapiro acknowledged the Clintons' deep connections with Hispanics in Texas.

''However, given Senator Obama's long track record of fighting for the Hispanic community, bringing Democrats and Republicans together to expand access to health care, cut taxes for working families, and pass groundbreaking ethics reform, we expect support in the Hispanic community in Texas to grow steadily," Shapiro said.

A growing list of Hispanic elected officials supporting the Illinois senator includes state Rep. Ana Hernandez, an attorney whose district is 76 percent Hispanic and includes parts of east Houston, the Port of Houston and Pasadena. Hernandez said Obama will be able to attract Latino support.

''It's a mistake when people think that Latinos will automatically support Hillary," Hernandez said.

Dora Olivo, a state representative whose district includes Missouri City, said she is backing Obama because of his immigrant background. His father is from Kenya.

''He has lived in two worlds," said Olivo, a second-generation Mexican-American. ''The fact he's gone through that, and understands it — there's a beauty to it."



Dallas Business Journal
http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2008/02/18/daily32.html?jst=b_ln_hl

Enthusiasm for the Democrats' 2008 presidential primary election is running extremely high in North Texas, and early voting numbers from day one, issued by the Secretary of State, show a striking contrast between the 2004 and 2008 contests.

In Denton County, the day one early voting totals for the Democrats' 2004 primary registered an anemic 151 ballots. This year, Denton pulled in a total of 1,832 ballots; an increase of 1,215 percent.

In Collin County, 175 votes were registered in 2004. In 2008, the GOP stronghold saw a tsunami of 2,474 Democratic ballots; an increase of 1,413 percent.

Tarrant County, also a GOP stronghold, faced the same voter swarm. In 2004 the Secretary of State logged 980 votes. In 2008, day one totals came to 7,415; up 756 percent.

Dallas County, which became a Democratic bastion in 2006, was no different. In 2004, 962 ballots were cast. In 2008, the number is 9,834; a leap up by 1,022 percent.

Obama visited the Rio Grande Valley, Corpus Christi and Austin on Friday, after visits earlier in the week to Houston, San Antonio and Dallas.

Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/state/stories/022408dnpolyouthvote.3beba9c.html

Armed with campaign posters, voter-registration cards and enough board games and buttered popcorn to make it through the night, dozens of students spent the 10 hours before early voting began outside their campus precinct, educating every bleary-eyed studier and after-hours straggler about the Texas primary

The UT College Democrats have registered close to 23,000 people to vote in the past five weeks – the large majority of them students. That's more than anyone on campus can remember registering for a primary, said Laura Hernandez, the organization's president