The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.
Early voting numbers are in for Texas and early voter turnout for this general election is up from the last two presidential contests.
KERA’s Krystina Martinez reports from North Texas:
“According to the Secretary of State’s office, 46 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the 15 largest counties. Early voter turnout was 39 percent in 2012 and 42 percent in 2008.”
Bruce Sherbet is an elections administrator for Collin County. Out of the seven elections he’s administered, he says this has been the strangest.
“Everything about this election is different, the turnout has been surprisingly high, from day 1 of early voting which is not usually the case. It usually starts slow and builds towards the end.”
Collin County had the highest percentage of early voters in the state – 56 percent cast ballots over the two-week period. Though the county’s seen a population boom since the last election, Sherbet says a record number of registered voters – and high interest in this election – contributed to the high turnout.
Based on what Sherbet’s seen so far, here’s his Election Day forecast:
“What we’re looking at this Election Day is – it’s been steady and high the whole period of time. Maybe a little bit lighter turnout on Election Day because we voted so heavy in early voting, but that remains to be seen.”
The final turnout will be hard to predict in this unusual election cycle. What we do know: Election Day is tomorrow, and polls open at 7 a.m.”
That was Krystina Martinez in Dallas.
So Election Day is tomorrow – we are so close.
But humor me for a minute and think back to when this slog started, back when Texans like Ted Cruz and Rick Perry dreamed of seeing their own names flickering on voting machine screens. Those titans of Texas politics have since fallen in line behind Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
But there’s one Texan left standing: Mindy Finn – a political consultant and digital strategist, who’s making a run for the vice presidency.
Finn, who hails from Kingwood, is part of Evan McMullin’s ticket. The two Republicans decided to make an independent run for the White House as part of the “Never Trump” movement.
The Texas Tribune reports that while McMullin is a certified write-in candidate in Texas, his running mate is officially listed as Nathan Johnson.
The campaign was using his name as a placeholder until Finn signed on as VP on Oct. 6.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is doing something that might seem unthinkable for a Longhorn. The University of Texas grad is teaching a class at Texas A&M this winter. Even though he’s a proud member of his alma mater, he explains in a promotional video for the class:
“You know what’s more important to me? That I’m the son of the greatest man alive, George H.W. Bush, the founder of the Bush School for Public Service. And I am proud to be a teacher, teaching about what it is to be a governor. In January, I look forward to being with all the students and being at the Texas A&M community.”
The school says 65 students have already signed up.
