With other states having decided the presidential primaries, Texas voters have turned their eyes to state and local races in casting ballots for Tuesday's primaries. Pauline Pitman, Taylor County's elections administrator, said early voting took a dip Wednesday. In primaries from Maine to California on Super Tuesday, American voters all but crowned Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush as their party's standard bearers. But by Thursday morning, traffic at the local early voting sites had picked up again and stayed steady, Pitman said.
Today is the last day of early voting in the primaries.
By mid-afternoon Thursday, the county's early voting total stood at 3,865, only 164 fewer votes than were cast early in the last presidential primary in 1996. Because the last day of early voting is traditionally the heaviest, the total could swell to nearly 5,000 by the time early voting ends at 7 p.m. today. Republicans continued to dominate early voting, casting 81.5 percent of votes recorded by mid-afternoon. Four years ago, the Republican share was 77.8 percent. Paul Washburn, chairman of the Taylor County Republican Party, said Bush's presence at the top of the ticket is attracting both diehard Republicans, and independents and Democrats who admire his performance as Texas' governor.