In-person voter turnout in Dallas County so far seems to be substantially less than it was in the last mid-term election. Those of us who were hoping for a giant voter response to these high-stakes races have been disappointed so far, but there are more than one ways to look at it.
Dallas political consultant Jeff Dalton has been posting turnout figures on Facebook. He says that Democratic ballots outnumbered Republican by 57% to 36% in our county. He provided a spreadsheet of vote totals for big counties as of the 3rd day.
Dallascountyvotes.org says that 136,772 in-person votes had come in as of the end of the 4th day of early voting. 11,941 vote-by-mail ballots had also come in. Vote-by-mail is more popular now than it was in pre-pandemic 2018; consequently, the in-person voting deficit may not be as bad as it looks. Dallas turnout suffered because of heavy rain on the October 24.
It's How They Vote, Not How Many
Ultimately, elections are not decided by turnout but by who gets the most. Union families vote at higher rates than the general public, and they tend to trust the union screening process and recommendations. Those are the good voters we are contacting. Union retirees vote in much higher proportions than the general public, and those are the retired voters we are contacting. We can make a big difference by working together to win this election and, at the same time, strengthen the progressive movement.
North Texas labor gives us the option of doing something every day, especially on Saturdays and Election Day. Contact marilyn@texasaflcio.org, or jtomlinson.dallasaflcio@gmail.com. To phone bank retirees, contact judy4tara@aol.com.
MORE ACTIONS COMING UP
Oct 28: Deadline to receive vote-by-mail applications for general election
Oct 29, 9:30A: Dallas block walking with labor every Saturday from 1408 N Washington. Sign up here or contact jtomlinson.dallasaflcio@gmail.com or marilyn@texasaflcio.org
Oct 29, 10A: Tarrant County block walking with labor every Saturday from UAW276, 2505 W.E. Roberts in Grand Prairie. RSVP here. Daily phone banking Mon-Fri also from UAW276. Contact Angi at 817-284-1461
Oct 30: Runoff election in Brazil
Oct 31, 6P: (Every Monday and Wednesday) Zoom call for instructions for labor’s phone banking from home. Contact jtomlinson.dallasaflcio@gmail.com
Nov 8: General election. Sign up for Election Day of Action. After the polls close, labor activists will gather at 1408 N Washington to ride a bus to various “watch parties.”