A Blue Dot In Sea Of Red, Travis County Voting Was Decidedly Pro-Clinton

AUSTIN, TX -- The city of Austin, the county seat of Travis County, has long been a liberal region amidst a conservative expanse in most of Texas: A lone dot in a red sea.

Post-election data from the county's 247 precincts are emblematic of that progressive slant, showing more people voted for Hillary Clinton than for Donald Trump — and by a wide margin. The data compiled by the office of the Travis County Clerk also revealed that the vast majority of all votes cast came during early voting rather than on Election Day.

The Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine ticket for the Democratic Party secured 66.25 percent of the total vote with 306,475 total votes cast, according to the data. During the early voting period that took place from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4, 247,097 votes were cast, or 67.97 percent of total votes for that period. Come Election Day, another 59,378 people voted for Clinton, or 59.96 percent of the total vote.

By comparison, the Donald Trump/Mike Pence ticket received 126,750 votes. That's 27.40 percent of the total vote. During early voting, the Republican ticket got 97,368 votes (26.78 percent) and another 29,382 votes on Election Day (29.67 percent).

Clinton's commanding lead in Travis County, naturally, was no match for the wide swath of Republican territory in most of Texas. In the end, Trump got 4,681,590 votes statewide compared to 3,867,816 that went to Clinton. Percentage-wise, that's 53 percent for Trump, 43 percent for Clinton.

Travis County results for the alternative party candidates more closely mirrored the national trend.

The Gary Johnson/William Weld Libertarian ticket received 4.73 percent of votes cast for a total of 21,866 ballots cast. During the early voting period, 14,426 votes (3.97 percent) went to the Libertarians and another 7,440 (7.51 percent of total votes) coming during Election Day.

The Green Party ticket comprising Jill Stein and running mate Ajamu Baraka secured a mere 1.60 percent of the overall vote, for a total of 7,420 ballots cast. During early voting, the ticket received 4,622 votes (1.27 percent) with another 2,798 votes (2.83 percent) coming on Election Day.

In studying such data, it's invariably surprising to see other tickets beyond the more mainstream ones. In this election cycle, there were 13 other candidates running for the office of president of the United States, each one with a running mate.

These are largely unfamiliar names, save for Robert Morrow — the eccentric former head of the Travis County Republican Party ousted by his peers earlier this year. Morrow was among the candidates running for the presidency, alongside his running mate Todd Sanders, according to the Travis County Clerk data.

Morrow is fond of wearing a jester's hat at public events, and his Twitter account is littered with bombastic views from the conspiratorial to the condemning. The eccentric figure garnered national headlines for his implausible rise up the county Republican ranks — implausible given the outrageous, unfiltered and unconventional nature of his Twitter feed.

In an August telephone interview with Patch, Morrow acknowledged he was under no delusions to become president of the United States. He explained to Patch that his motivation for running for the office was to call attention to his awareness campaign related to a lawsuit filed against Trump alleging he raped a minor years ago.

During this past weekend's Texas Book Festival, Morrow meandered through the crowds in calling attention to that allegation against Trump for which a court hearing is now scheduled. He sported his court jester wardrobe, turning heads in an event drawing a largely subdued, bookish crowd at an event that was otherwise more cerebral than scintillating.

As Morrow negotiated the grounds with his sidekick at the Texas Book Festival, he carried a sign referencing the allegation against Trump. He showed up again — same jester's hat, same sign — in front of the University Co-op along Guadalupe Street where students patiently waited in a long line to cast their ballots.

In the end, Morrow's presidential ambitions provided his detractors the tool they needed to oust him as chairman of the Travis County Republican Party. In filing to run for president, Morrow unwittingly broke a party provision that automatically disqualifies a person to hold on to the chairmanship of the party if filing to concurrently run for another political office.

"The reading is correct," Morrow told Patch back in August, referring to his detractor's successfully ousting him from the Republican Party ranks. "I kinda figured but didn't have time to look it up. But I wanted to run for president. I know who my enemies ares, but I didn't care."

The alternative candidates were:

• Scott Cobbler / Michael Rodriguez
• Cherunda Fox / Roger Kushner
• Tom Hoefling / Steve Scholin
• Laurence Kotlikoff / Edward Leamer
• Jonathan Lee / Jeffrey Erskine
• Michael A. Maturen / Juan A. Munoz
• Evan McMullin / Nathan Johnson
• Monica Moorehead / Lamont Lilly
• Emidio Soltysik / Angela Walker
• Dale Steffes / Paul E. Case
• Tony Valdivia / Aaron Barriere