City Council Elections

With early voting in the Austin city elections finished, and a scant four days left until Election Day, campaign ads are increasingly ubiquitous.

But where’s the fun in what's on the airwaves? Most broadcast spots are feel-good, soft-focus spots that have been focus-grouped within an inch of life. No, it’s in the wilds of the Interwebs the Austin politico finds the most entertaining (if not exactly illuminating) clips.

KUT News has combed the digital wastelands to find the strangest campaign ads for this Saturday’s City Council contest. And since sometimes, the WTF? is hiding in plain sight, we’ve including some broadcast spots in this roundup of the five weirdest videos in the Austin city election:

Turnout continued to climb on the final day of early voting for the Austin city elections, although overall turnout never managed to surpass that of Austin’s last mayoral election.

Early voting returns for Tuesday, April 8, showed 6,094 ballots cast in Travis County. (That doesn't include precincts in Williamson County that vote in the Austin elections.) That brought early voting totals to 23,257 ballots – or 4.87 percent of registered voters.

In the image above, you can see how overall early voting in Travis County compares to Austin’s last two general city elections.

View Austin Early Voting Locations in a larger map

Turnout traditionally increases towards the end of early voting, and the 2012 Austin City Council elections are no exception. 

3,448 ballots were cast yesterday, the second-to-last day of early voting. That brings total overall votes to 17,162, or 3.60% of Austin's registered voters. Continuing its lead status among Austin's polling places, Randalls’ Research Boulevard and Braker Lane location saw 441 ballots cast on Monday.

As you can see in the graph above, the late surge mirrors early voting patterns in Austin's 2009 mayoral election, and 2011's City Council election. But despite Monday's increased turnout, which bested this voting cycle's strongest single day of turnout by 1,000 votes, voting still lags behind Austin's last mayoral election. 

Mayoral candidate Brigid Shea accused her opponent, Mayor Lee Leffingwell, of breaking city campaign donation rules in front of City Hall today. 

At issue are thousands of dollars Mayor Leffingwell received at an event attended by supporters of Austin’s Formula One racetrack, the Circuit of the Americas.

Shea says because he received those checks at the same event he should have listed the host as a “bundler,” someone who solicits donations for a candidate and hands them over to a campaign in a “bundle.”

With early voting drawing to a close, turnout in the Austin city elections saw an expected uptick.

Friday turnout – 2,449 votes in all – broke this election’s previous best of nearly 2,200 on the first day of early voting. Turnout was similar on Saturday, with a total of 2,358 votes, before dropping off on Sunday, with only 897 ballots cast. Total overall turnout for early voting is now 13,713, or 2.87% of registered voters.

KUT News had previously described turnout as on track to beat 2011, Austin’s last City Council election, but possibly not 2009, Austin’s last mayoral election. And as depicted in the graph above, that prediction looks about right. Plotting the first seven days of early voting from 2009, 2011 and 2012, this election cycle’s turnout is solidly lodged between Austin’s last two contests.

Early voting in the Austin City Elections continue apace. A total of 1,893 ballots were cast yesterday, between in-person voting and voting by mail.

Those numbers are eerily consistent with what we’ve seen all week, in-person totals being just two votes off what we saw yesterday, and three off what we saw Monday. With a total of 8,010 ballots cast, Austin has now seen 1.68% of its registered voters go to the polls.

It’s safe to say totals look on track to beat 2011 turnout, from Austin’s most recent (but non-mayoral) City Council contest. That saw a total of 14,871 early votes, or 3.35% percent of registered voters. 

Congratulations, Austin. You’ve cracked one percent!

Yesterday’s early voting totals in the Austin city election were in line with what we’d seen all week, with 1,918 ballots cast. That covers both in-person voting and voting by mail. And it brings the total count to 6,117 – or 1.28% of registered voters.

The Northwest Austin Randalls, at Research and Breaker, led the day again, delivering 221 votes. Meanwhile, the Parque Zaragoza Recreation Center in East Austin served as low vote-getter, with a scant 19 ballots cast.