Record early-vote start in Travis County: what's on Austin's city ballot, and how the council put it there

Nearly 41,000 Travis County voters cast ballots on Monday, Oct. 19, the first day of early voting, KUT reported. That is about 4.3% of the county's 952,713 registered voters, a first-day record for any midterm this century, according to KUT. The rate was 2.8% on the first day in 2022 and 4.14% in 2018. Austin voters have a long city ballot, and early voting runs through Friday, Oct. 30.

How to vote

According to KUT and the city's voter resources page:

• There are 45 early voting sites, up from 38 in the last midterm, and 201 Election Day sites.
• Early voting hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, including weekends.
• On the last two days, Oct. 29 and 30, seven sites stay open until 10 p.m. They include the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex, the UT Texas Union and the Travis County Clerk's office at 5501 Airport Blvd.
• Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polling places are listed on the Travis County Clerk's site.

Travis County Clerk Dyana Limon-Mercado told KUT her goal was to make this "the most accessible election in our community's history."

What's on the city ballot

Five council seats. Districts 1, 3, 5, 8 and 9 are up. The council ordered those elections on Aug. 6. Districts 1 and 8 are open seats, Axios reported. We have written about the District 9 race, and today about District 3, District 5 and District 8.

Two bond propositions. Props A and B make up a $295 million package for parks and libraries. On Aug. 4, eight council members voted to send it toward the ballot. Mayor Kirk Watson and Council Members José Velásquez and Marc Duchen voted no, according to our record of that vote. Our explainer on Props A and B has the details.

Eight charter amendments. These include Prop I, a citizen-petition measure on outside audits of city spending. Our explainer walks through all eight.

What our records add

The council updated the election orders this month. On Oct. 8 the council amended all three election ordinances, for the bonds, the council races and the charter amendments. The changes added the polling-place lists, the county election contracts and the names of election judges, according to the Oct. 8 agenda. All three passed on the consent agenda, which was adopted with one member voting no on a separate item.

A new advisory board for a late-hours voting site. On Oct. 22 the council created a Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex Advisory Board on consent. The East Austin complex is one of the seven sites open until 10 p.m. at the end of early voting.

Who is on the dais now. Every current council member's votes and sponsored items are on our district pages. Our campaign finance pages track sitting members' filings, including the three incumbents on the ballot. They do not include challengers' filings.

What's next

Early voting ends Oct. 30. Travis County posts results on election night. Current terms for these seats end in January, KUT has reported. Before then, the current council takes up the Muny agreement with UT on Nov. 19.