2012 Primary Early Voting In Collin Co.

Texas Democratic Party and Republican Party Primary Election Early Voting started Monday for county and statewide office contests. Early voting will continue through Friday, May 25. Voters can finally pick their party's nominees after a four-month delay caused by extended court battles over redistricting, which, by the way, aren't finally settled yet.

The four-month primary election delay has resulted in voter apathy, which creates a challenge for candidates to get out the vote. Voter apathy can spell trouble for some Republican incumbent candidates facing opposition from Tea Party conservative activists, and create an opportunity for very well organized newcomers.

The first problem incumbent candidates face in this primary is just getting word out about the election. Texans are accustomed to voting on Primary Super Tuesday, which this year was on March 6. The early date is designed to give Texans an early role in choosing presidential nominees. But this year, drawn out court battles over the new redistricting maps pushed primary election day from its usual first Tuesday in March date to Tuesday May 29.

The second problem with having the primary election in late May is that Mitt Romney has all but won the Republican party's nomination and there never was any drama over who will be the Democratic presidential nominee. Without a big national race in the balance, primary voters tend not to show up. This year the biggest undecided statewide race is to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

The third challenge is that the May 29 primary date is the Tuesday after the three day Memorial Day holiday weekend and the same week as schools close for summer vacation - a popular week for people to prepare to depart for their annual vacation. And that leads to the importance of early voting, which started on Monday, May 14.

Winning the primary election this year, even more so than other years, is all about campaigns Getting Out The Vote for their candidate. GOTV is something that incumbents usual don't have to worry about in a presidential election year, but this year well organized newcomers can have the edge. And where the incumbent has decided to not run again, the contest between primary contestants can be hot.

When Obama and Hillary Clinton were neck-and-neck in the 2008 primary, more than 2.8 million Democrats voted, compared to 1.3 million Republicans. And yet, that still represented only 33 percent of registered voters, according to data from the Texas Secretary of State's office.

In comparison, the 2010 primary did not include a presidential race, and the biggest contest was Hutchison's challenge to Gov. Rick Perry. In that race, 1.48 million Republicans cast ballots, compared to only 680,000 Democrats.

This year Democratic turnout will likely run low again. Obama faces no serious challenger and the U.S. Senate nomination pits former state Rep. Paul Sadler against 32-year-old party activist Sean Hubbard. Donations are an indicator of voter enthusiasm and so far Sadler reports raising $77,800 and Hubbard $16,971.

The top three Republican candidates for Sen. Hutchison's seat, by comparison, have raised between $5 million and $7 million. They will now spend much of that to encourage supporters to vote, since in recent elections early voters made up more than 40 percent of turnout.

For front-runner Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the goal is to win the May 29 primary with more than 50 percent of the vote, any less and he will face a July 31 runoff. Former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz are each spending millions on television ads hoping to force that runoff, and if they succeed, they could have a chance to win.

In Collin Co. a few Republican candidates are spending a considerable amount of campaign money and volunteer hours to Get Out The Vote. This is particularly true for State House District 67 with Republican candidates John Pitchford, Roger Burns, Jeran Akers, Jeff Leach, and Jon Cole trying hard to get out the vote. The Jon Cole campaign reportedly sent out a 10,000 piece Vote By Mail application mailer targeted to likely senior voters, which cost a tidy little bit of money.

State House District 70 with Republicans Scott Sanford and Bracy Wilson, State House District 33 with Republicans Jim Pruitt and Scott Turner, State Senate District 30 with Republicans Craig Estes and Jim Herblin, and Collin County Commissioners Court Precinct 3 with Republicans Ray Eckenrode and Chris Hill all add up to a lot of campaign effort to chase Republicans out to vote during primary early voting.

Propositions vary by party, and the Republican ones include letting parents use state education money to send their children to private schools, repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act — dubbed Obamacare by opponents — and allowing the Texas legislature to redraw precinct and district boundaries that are “court-imposed.”

The GOTV effort that local Republican candidates are putting forth for their particular districts is reflected in which early polling locations are getting heavier voting traffic.

Collin Co. Early Voting Counts:

Early Voting Location	Mon		Tue		Wed		Thur		Fri		Total
	Dem	Rep	Dem	Rep	Dem	Rep	Dem	Rep	Dem	Rep	Dem	Rep
Allen Municipal	10	205	20	198	15	204	16	185	20	251	81	1,043
Carp. Rec. Ctr.	7	98	19	91	11	71	11	94	14	98	62	452
CC McKinney	3	37	1	45	5	20	2	32	9	33	20	167
CC Preston Ridge	10	73	8	127	3	91	5	125	7	102	33	518
CC Spring Creek	10	31	7	26	7	26	8	23	11	36	43	142
Celina ISD Admin	2	20	1	44	1	24	0	46	0	30	4	164
Collin Ctr. Higher Ed.	0	20	1	22	3	16	0	15	4	26	8	99
Collin Co. Elections	9	299	22	231	12	215	12	218	17	232	72	1,195
Farmersville City Hall	3	20	3	18	1	24	3	16	3	21	13	99
Fire Station #7	1	29	1	43	0	25	4	34	1	28	7	159
Frisco Senior Ctr.	7	22	3	38	9	18	6	15	6	17	31	110
Haggard Library	17	138	10	116	13	103	18	103	15	117	73	577
Harrington Library	13	77	15	99	21	71	7	64	11	113	67	424
John & Judy Gay Lib.	7	118	5	140	7	151	10	122	18	153	47	684
Maribelle Davis Lib.	8	48	4	58	10	53	4	49	12	77	38	285
Melissa City Hall	3	27	1	22	4	13	0	12	0	17	8	91
Murphy City Hall	3	28	8	42	4	43	4	33	7	51	26	197
Old Settlers Rec. Ctr	1	8	2	4	0	6	1	8	1	10	5	36
Parr Library	3	48	6	60	4	57	3	46	3	61	19	272
PISD Admin Blvd	12	135	12	132	23	110	11	94	14	137	72	608
Renner-Frankford Lib	10	84	14	100	15	95	14	78	10	99	63	456
Wylie Municipal	9	42	17	55	5	40	7	34	9	48	47	219
Daily Total	148	1,607	180	1,711	173	1,476	146	1,446	192	1757	839	7,997
Accumulated Daily			328	3,318	501	4,794	647	6,240	839	7,997	.	.

On Saturday 319 people voted in the Democratic primary and 1788 people voted in the Republican primary in Collin Co.

Texas Primary Turnout by Percentage of Registered Voters Top 15 Cumulative Republican Vote Counties as of Thursday 5/17/2012
County	Reg Voters	Party	Cumulative In-Person Voters	Cumulative % In-Person	Cumulative By Mail Voters	Cumulative In-Person And Mail Voters	Cumulative Percent Early Voting
Montgomery	251,513	Rep	5,505	2.19%	2,053	7,558	3.01%
Galveston	179,501	Rep	4,193	2.34%	614	4,807	2.68%
Williamson	239,222	Rep	4,261	1.78%	1,307	5,568	2.33%
Fort Bend	321,792	Rep	4,842	1.50%	2,324	7,166	2.23%
Collin	433,258	Rep	6,188	1.43%	886	7,074	1.63%
Denton	364,555	Rep	4,612	1.27%	1,216	5,828	1.60%
Tarrant	922,805	Rep	8,529	0.92%	4,366	12,895	1.40%
Harris	1,908,042	Rep	13,464	0.71%	12,450	25,914	1.36%
Bexar	872,742	Rep	8,768	1.00%	2,002	10,770	1.23%
Nueces	185,058	Rep	1,477	0.80%	657	2,134	1.15%
Travis	594,254	Rep	3,947	0.66%	1,045	4,992	0.84%
Dallas	1,124,964	Rep	6,589	0.59%	2,628	9,217	0.82%
Cameron	174,077	Rep	1,008	0.58%	65	1,073	0.62%
El Paso	371,321	Rep	2,018	0.54%	188	2,206	0.59%
Hidalgo	291,724	Rep	1,344	0.46%	103	1,447	0.50%
Total	8,234,828	Rep	76,745	0.93%	31,904	108,649	1.32%

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Texas Primary Turnout by Percentage of Registered Voters Top 15 Cumulative Democratic Vote Counties as of Thursday 5/17/2012
County	Reg Voters	Party	Cumulative In-Person Voters	Cumulative Percent In-Person	Cumulative By Mail Voters	Cumulative In-Person And Mail Voters	Cumulative Percent Early Voting
Hidalgo	291,724	Dem	15,064	5.16%	626	15,690	5.38%
Cameron	174,077	Dem	6,137	3.53%	160	6,297	3.62%
El Paso	371,321	Dem	9,702	2.61%	165	9,867	2.66%
Nueces	185,058	Dem	1,556	0.84%	379	1,935	1.05%
Bexar	872,742	Dem	6,497	0.74%	1,685	8,182	0.94%
Travis	594,254	Dem	3,639	0.61%	746	4,385	0.74%
Dallas	1,124,964	Dem	5,841	0.52%	1,421	7,262	0.65%
Harris	1,908,042	Dem	6,317	0.33%	5,875	12,192	0.64%
Galveston	179,501	Dem	899	0.50%	46	945	0.53%
Tarrant	922,805	Dem	3,034	0.33%	1,522	4,556	0.49%
Fort Bend	321,792	Dem	971	0.30%	84	1,055	0.33%
Williamson	239,222	Dem	503	0.21%	27	530	0.22%
Collin	433,258	Dem	642	0.15%	48	690	0.16%
Denton	364,555	Dem	419	0.11%	51	470	0.13%
Montgomery	251,513	Dem	232	0.09%	63	295	0.12%
Total	8,234,828	Dem	61,453	0.75%	12,898	74,351	0.90%