Updated May 21: We inadvertently included all of Taylor Co.’s voters in this analysis and have corrected it to acknowledge that a portion of Taylor Co. is outside of SD24. We regret the error.
More people have voted early in the Republican runoff in Taylor Co. than in Bell Co., and turnout is generally higher in counties where Rep. Susan King (R-Abilene) received more votes than Dawn Buckingham. Turnout so far in Taylor Co. is 6.6%, while 2.4% of Bell Co. voters have cast ballots in the Republican runoff.
A Taylor Co. election official said runoff turnout there is a little behind 2012. A total of 6,364 voted early there in 2012, so this year’s turnout is 77% of that total. In Bell Co., a total of 7,509 voted early in 2012, making this year’s turnout 56% of that total.
In the primary, 10K more people voted in Bell Co. than in Taylor Co. in the SD24 race. As of noon today, 4,926 have voted in person or by mail in Taylor Co. including portions of the county outside of SD24. In the primary, about three quarters of all votes cast in Taylor Co. were in SD24., 18% more than the A total of 4,169 people who have voted in Bell Co., all of which is in SD24. King won Taylor Co. outright with 55% of the vote, and Buckingham received 16% there. Buckingham finished first in Bell Co. with 31% of the vote, more than doubling King’s 15%.
Turnout is higher in all nine counties we contacted than in any of the state’s largest counties so far this week.
Early Votes Cast So Far in SD24 Republican Runoff
4,926 – 6.6% of Taylor Co. registered voters (King +6,943 in primary)
4,169 – 2.4% of Bell Co. RVs (Buckingham +4,497)
2,086 – 6.0% of Coryell Co. RVs (Buckingham +472)
~2,000 – 6.1% of Kerr Co. RVs (King +1,509)
~1,700 – 6.1% of Burnet Co. RVs (Buckingham +615)
1,493 – 6.6% of Brown Co. RVs (King +929)
440 – 3.4% of Lampasas Co. RVs (Buckingham +318)
410 – 3.8% of Bandera Co. RVs (King +901)
333 – 3.8% of Callahan Co. RVs (King +865)
Travis Co. – 2,401 total including voters not in SD24 (Buckingham +2,375)
These 10 counties comprise 82% of primary vote.
At least four other counties have turnout above 6%:
- 6% in Brown Co., where King received 35% to Buckingham’s 23%
- 1% in Kerr Co., where King received 33% to Buckingham’s 19%
- 1% in Burnet Co., where Buckingham received 26% to King’s 19%; and
- 0% in Coryell Co., where Buckingham received 24% to King’s 17%.
King received 27% in those counties during the primary, and Buckingham received 23%.
In Travis Co., a total of 2,401 votes have been cast countywide in the runoff. Not all of those voters live in SD24, so turnout cannot at this point be calculated. Buckingham finished first in Travis Co. with 43%, and King received 15%.
