2010: A Small Number, Doubled

An update on early voting through the end of Monday's business in the top 15 counties, sourced to the Texas Secretary of State.

Overall, early voting is nearly double what it was four years ago, when Rick Perry and three others vied for governor, and Republicans are outperforming Democrats, both in raw vote totals and in their improvement over early voting in the last governor's race. That said, that "big" number means only three of every 100 registered voters has been to the polls.

Through the close of business on Monday, 119,195 Texans had voted early in the big counties, a 98 percent increase over four years ago. GOP primary voting was up 146 percent, to 86,179; Democratic primary voting was up a mere 52 percent, to 33,016. (GOP voting is up about 1 percent from the presidential race two years ago. The party's voting was up from normal, but their presidential candidate was already chosen by the time the race came to Texas. Democrats, who were in the middle of the Obama-Clinton fight, turned in humongous numbers two years ago; they're currently 530 percent off that pace).

About 3 percent of the state's 8.2 million registered voters had been to the polls by Monday night, with 1.2 percent voting Democratic and 1.8 percent voting Republican. GOP voting was higher in each of the top 15 counties, with Bexar, Collin, and Travis leading the way. Democrats are busier in a dozen of the counties than they were four years ago; the drops are in El Paso, Hidalgo and Nueces, while the biggest increases have come in Harris and Williamson counties.

What's it all mean? You might as well try to decifer the tire markings on the driveway. One theory: Voters are jazzed up about the governor's race, particularly on the GOP side. Another: People want to vote early and get it out of the way. We haven't compared the weather in the first seven days of voting this year with the first week last year, but that could be a factor (watch for Tuesday's results, with the winter cold passing over the state).

Friday is the last day of early voting. Election Day is on Tuesday, March 2.