Austin march urges voters to cast ballots early during midterm election

On the first day of early voting, the Travis County Clerk Office’s said 40,777 out of 952,713 registered voters had cast their ballots.

AUSTIN, Texas — A group of Austin activists marched from the Texas Capitol to Austin City Hall on Monday to encourage people to vote in the midterm election, with participants ending the walk by casting ballots.

“The more people that we can actually get out to vote, the better,” Austin resident Ajit D’Sa said.

The group described itself as nonpartisan and aimed to spread the word about voting.

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Austin resident Jennifer Barrington said she first went to her neighborhood polling site but left after seeing a long line and decided to vote at city hall instead.

“I did go to my home location first, went closest to my house, but the line was pretty much wrapped around the building, and I knew I had this event tonight,” Barrington said. “No worries, it feels really purposeful and intentional to do it here anyway.”

D’Sa said city propositions were among the issues on his mind as he voted, including Proposition I, and said he was concerned about education in Austin.

Barrington, who said she is a 14-year Coast Guard veteran, said voting matters because others fought and died for the right to do so.

“We should never just assume that we’re always going to have it,” she said.

As the group marched through Downtown Austin, D’Sa said people along the route responded with honks, claps and cheers.

According to the Travis County Clerk’s Office dashboard, 40,777 ballots were submitted that day – about 4.28% of the county’s registered voters.