What’s driving Central Texas early voters to the polls

Early voting in the March 3rd primary wraps up Friday. Turnout is trending upward across Central Texas with more voters casting ballots in Travis, Hayes and Williamson Counties compared to previous primaries. We're taking a closer look at who's showing up and what patterns are beginning to emerge at polling locations locally and across the state. Meanwhile, questions about how ballots should be counted continue to spark debate.

We'll tell you about Republicans in one Texas county who are planning to hand count election day ballots. That's up next. The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Miles Bloxson. We're going to hear the story of the Texas musician known as the Jimi Hendrix of the accordion, plus KUTX's Ryan Wynn stops by with Austin music you need to know about. That's all coming up right here on Austin Signal. Hello out there, this is Austin Signal. It's Wednesday, February 25th.

Thank you for tuning in to listener powered public radio. I'm your host, Myles Bloxson. Early voting in the March 3rd primary continues through this

Friday, and turnout in Travis County is the highest for any primary since 2008. Voter turnout is also up in Hays and Williamson Counties, and in all three more people have been voting in a Democratic primary than in the Republican one. A political scientist says a reason for that may be the best sense of hope for success in the fall that Texas Democrats have had in

years. It's an early sign that Texas voters are indeed more engaged this primary election season and it's consistent with what some of our reporters have been hearing as they visit polling places in the Austin area. And across the state. Here's the Texas newsroom's Blaze Gainey with more. On the very first day of early voting, Caterino Garza cast his ballot in San Antonio. I've been voting Republican for about 28 years. I left the other party, yes sir.

The 81-year-old says he's voted in too many elections to count, as of which races matter most to him this year. All of them, they're all a concern. If you live in the United States, all the races should be a concern Maria Stevenson Green, a fellow San Antonio in her 80s, says her family's history is what motivates her.

I come out for voting because my grandparents, my grandfather, a formerly enslaved man that migrated to San Antonio from Mississippi, they both had to pay a poll tax in order to vote in San Antonio. For her, voting isn't just a civic duty, it's a legacy. In Houston, Tracy Wagner says she's voting while navigating through tough economic times. I am 58 years old, currently, unfortunately, I'm unemployed from the IT industry.

I've been looking for a job for like seven months now, so it's been rough. Her employment status was top of mind when casting her ballot. The unemployment rate is just really high. The government is not being honest about it, and some of it is racially motivated. Economic anxiety is something voter Randy Watson, 66 of Garland, also pointed to. I'm getting ready to retire, so I'm not in too bad of shape, but there's a lot of people out there that are hurting.

Prices, goods are expensive, housing is ridiculous, and people need help. Watson says he's most focused on the Texas governor's race and the U.S. Senate race, the state's most high-profile primary on both sides of the ticket. He voted in the Democratic primary and says he'd happily support either Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett or State Representative James Talerico in November. Others are focused on more down ballot races.

Grady Terrell voted in Republican primary in Lubbock where he's an attorney. For him, local judicial elections were the biggest concern. And just showing up. We vote every time it comes up because people don't vote often enough. But at least so far, it looks like Texans are coming out in higher numbers than usual for a primary election in a year without a presidential race on the ballot. In the first four days of early voting, more than half a million ballots were cast in Texas.

In Houston, 67-year-old Harold Ogbon II voted in the Democratic primary and says that that's how he'll vote in November too. Anybody Democrat Anybody that has anything to do with mega or whatever this is out of my lead He's ready for change and thinks we should have term limits for elected offices. Because these old films, they're stuck in these old ways and it ain't working. In Austin, voter Jeff Lewis says how he cast his ballot was shaped by opposition to state leadership.

I will stand anybody. Against Greg Abbott and that Ken Paxton regime in general. For some voters, the focus is less partisan and more about governance. Isaiah Garner hit the polls in Hearst, a city outside of Fort Worth. He says he's voted in the Republican primary for the past four election cycles. Garner wants whoever wins to remember they represent everyone. Whether that person voted for you or not, if they live in Texas, you're their voice.

It's not about being a Democrat or a Republican after that vote is casted. It's about fighting for everyone. Grady Terrell of Lubbock had a simpler message for those who end up getting newly elected this year or staying in power. Get it right. Quit messin' around and get it right! I'm Blaze Gainey in Austin. BOW BOW We're going to stay on the topic of election season and hear about a change of plans for the vote count in at least one Texas county out in the Hill Country.

It's been a bit of a politicized back and forth in many places in Texas, a divide with some state Republicans wanting to ditch electronic voting equipment and hand count all ballots. Others say the electronic equipment

works perfectly safe. It's part of a long running disagreement going back a few years. Now Republicans in Gillespie County no longer plan to hand count all of their 2026 primary ballots. Natalia Contreras covers election administration and voter access for Vote Beat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. She spoke about the change of heart with the texas standards, David Brown. Give us some background on this previous plan to hand count ballots in Gillespie

County. This is just for Republicans and for the record we should mention for those who don't know, this is where Fredericksburg is located. Central Texas, right? That's right, where all the wineries are at. And actually in 2024, vote B spent all of the primary election time in Gillespie at a winery where hundreds of people spend time there hand counting early voting ballots and election day ballots that were cast also at each polling location. We were there for hours. I mean, we started.

At 6 a.m. In the morning and we didn't finish. We didn't finish reporting until 5 a. M. The next day and it took hundreds of people. Well this time Republicans in Gillespie County have found that they don't have the same amount of people this time and so the ballots that are cast during early voting are going to be scanned and the ballots are cast on primary day are gonna still be hand counted.

Um, so we may see some delays if there's not enough people to hand count, but again, all of the thousands of ballots that are cast during early voting are not going to be hand counted. There's just not enough to do this. And just for clarification, Democrats in Gillespie County, they were always going to use the machines, right? Democrats in Gillespie have always been using the machines. Their tallies are scanned pretty

quickly. Also, they're not the majority in the county, and so there's not as many ballots. But yes, the Democrats are still going to vote and their ballots are going to be scanned as usual. Why has this become such an issue among Republicans in Gillespie County? Why do they feel like they have to hand count in the first place? There are so many of them that really don't trust the system that's in place.

They really believe that, you know, the machines can be manipulated, that they're connected to the internet, all which is not true. There's actually not been any proof of any fraud whatsoever in Gillespie County. It's majority Republican, it's always been, but there's still that concern and that push, and it's been going on for a long time.

Now, the reason why we've zeroed in on this, in Anglesby, for example, is because By law right now, Texas doesn't require for a hand count to be audited or recounted as you do the ballots that are tabulated by machines. And so that count from 2024, as of today hasn't been audited, there hasn't a recount of it, so we don't know if those results are accurate. Okay, but why did you want to tell the state about what's happening in Gillespie County?

Is this a limited concern or is this bigger than Gillespy? It is bigger than Gillespie because, you know, in the primary, the primary is the only time that the parties have the authority to decide how they're going to count their votes. And now it's Gillespy. I mean, in 2024 was Gillespe, and right now, again, it's still

Gillespi. But I'm actually, as we speak, I'm in Eastland County, which is an hour and a half west of Fort Worth, where Republicans here in East land are planning to hand count their ballots also for this election. We'll see how that one goes as well. And so I expect Republicans in this state to continue to use that authority to try a hand count, to see how it goes, and for us to be waiting for results, and results that are not required by law as it stands right now to be verified for accuracy.

That was Natalia Contreras. She covers election administration and voting access for VoteBeat, speaking with Texas Standard's David Brown. Early voting in the party primaries ends this Friday. We have voter guides for Travis Hayes and Williamson Counties and plenty more election info you need to know before heading to the polls at KUT.org. You're listening to The Austin Signal. We'll be back after this break. This is Austin Signal. Welcome back.

It's that time, it's time to talk some music on the show. Today we've got some Texas music history about a man whose style and look became as recognizable as the music he played. And what instrument is more Texan than an accordion? Well, Jason Millett from the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University tells us about the Jimi Hendrix of the squeeze box. This week in Texas Music History, we'll meet the South Texas Jimmy Hendrix of accordion. On February 23, 1939,

conjunto accordionist Esteban Jordan, aka Steve Jordan, was born in Elsa in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. He grew up in a large family of migrant farm workers and formed a band with his brothers after seeing Valerio Longoria play. Jordan was hooked. Conjunto would be his life, steeped in its tradition while also taking the accordion unheard of directions, far from its south Texas roots.

At first, he did so literally, moving to San Jose, California in 1958, and then settling in Phoenix for much of the 60s. That decade also stoked Jordan's genre-crossing experiments with jazz and rock. Here in the nickname, Jimi Hendrix of the accordion, not just for the stylistic flights of fancy, but for the psychedelic phase shifters he brought to the instrument.

The wild sounds that Squeezebox now made, paired with Jordan's trademark snakeskin eye patch, source of his other nickname, El Parche, made for a striking persona. If Flaco Jimenez was Con Junto's crossover ambassador, Steve Jordan was its avant-garde Pied Piper. He returned to the Lone Star State in the 1970s and spent much of his later career in the conjunto capital San Antonio, holding down a regular gig at a local bar even as he collaborated with big stars outside the genre.

Jerry Garcia, Carlos Santana, Doug Song. He featured in David Byrne's film to ode to Texas' true stories and in Cheech Marin's Born in East L.A. Over the course of a dramatic career, Jordan released more than two dozen captivating albums from tried and true cantina standards through wild postmodern experiments on perhaps that most Texan of instruments. The German, Mexican, Czech, Cajun, and Creole Accord. You can hear music from the Lone Star State 24-7 on the Texas Music Experience at tmx.fm.

Before we wrap up the month of February, we wanted to highlight some new Austin music that you might want to add to your playlist. Here to help us out, we have Ryan Nguyen, host and producer for our sister station KUTX. Ryan, thanks so much for coming in today. Hey Myles, thanks for having me. Of course, so let's start with an Austin mainstay. Money Cheecha, what's the track and what do you like about them? So, Money Cheecha, they've been in here in Austin since 2016.

You probably have familiar with some of the people in this band. They're in Grupo Fantasma and Brown Out, which is super core Austin groups. But Money Cheecha, the sound is in their name. Chee-cha is a genre of

music that's originally out of Lima, Peru in the 60s. And my boss, Peter Babb, once described them as, listening to Money Chea-cha feels a bit like taking a hit of acid and downing a couple shots of tequila. And hopping on a plane to 1960s Peru. And it is a bit like that. And it's kind of, Chicha music is a cousin of Cumbia. It's like a psychedelic surf rock version of Cambia.

It kind of came about because during the 60s, a lot of people from the Amazon were immigrating to big cities like Lima, so they were bringing in all these kinds of Amazonian melodies and sounds and then combining them with more international sounds like surf rock, psychedelic music. So Mani Chicha is kind of the embodiment of this. It's kind of a scene of music that hasn't been unearthed in a while. It's a whole vibe. I found myself just moving around as I was listening to different tracks, so.

Mm-hmm. I love that and groove is also abundant in the song fever trying to blow. So who is almost heaven? So Almost Heaven is a band that seemingly, you know, fell out of nowhere, you now, pun intended, but fell out nowhere, completely formed. They are, it's two people. They are originally started by this person who was a graphic designer, who got into graphic design because he wanted to make album art for music.

And then he happened to be in his friend's studio and then was like, maybe I should make my own music for some of these, you no, graphics I'm making and music videos he's producing. And it kind of sounds like bands like ESG, like the dance punk and then, you know, if you like bands, like The Rapture, people are on DFA records, like LCD sound system, lots of cowbell. Lots of, you know, booty shaking. Perhaps some gold lame booty shorts would be appropriate while you're listening to them.

But yeah, it's a really fun sound. I really love the way they started the song, fever trying to blow. It was like a nice little buildup. And then they were kind of talking to you a little bit. Like I've had a long day at work, a long week at work. And I just want to get loose. And I was like, okay, build up to the song then. I love that. I love that. It's perfect for that. Check out the music video too. For sure, very dope, very cool.

So look, you certainly feel the groove in a lot of these tracks, right? But there's one in here that's also got a bit of a visual component to it, Grandmaster.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, they are I guess self-described as space cult funk They are definitely influenced bands like Earth Wind and Fire, but then they have a whole visual esthetic That's like part Parliament Funkadelic part Perhaps Nintendo they even kind of sound like a modern Nintendo soundtrack Which you know honestly is a really is high praise like if you played modern Super Mario games I mean I am, yes, that's what I do when I have a bad

day. I'm like, let me go play some Super Mario Brothers, so I'm all here for it. But yeah, they are super awesome. I remember the last time I saw them at Rock the Park, they had a procession where a bunch of people were following around to indoctrinate people into their space funk cult. And it may sound a little intimidating, but it's actually supposed to be really fun, and it is. I love that. I remember when they came in for a 1A session and I was like, wow, there's all these people here.

What is happening? And then I see like, what, 11 people performing at one time. Yeah. How many people are in this band again? It is, it is 11. They're an 11 piece band. A lot of them are Berkeley College of Music graduates. So like the musicianship, yeah, the musicians ship is on an extremely high level. So like earth, wind and fire, but then there's a little bit of like Alan Parsons project, um, prog rock going on too. So it's very sophisticated, but very whimsical at the same time.

Alright, this is a really nice list, but I have to know what other songs stood out to you this month. I'm really excited about this band called The Opera, and one of the front women of the band, Tyler Dozer, was in this group, or she called herself Lady Dan the last time we heard from her, and it was kind of this Americana sound, but The Opera is coming more from like post-hardcore, like bands like Unwound, it's very kind of like angular, artsy, Art punk is another word that you describe it.

Yeah, they have a sound that's really exciting. They're also a six-piece band. They're kind of experimental. They have saxophone sometimes, but it's also a punk band. So it can be noisy, but I also think it's really approachable. And I'm really excited to see them live, too, because personally, this band just came out. They just dropped their debut EP. And I kind of think they're the freshest thing in the Austin air right now.

I love that I have to check that out and you know there's this small little bitty event happening you know sometime coming up soon and perhaps you know a little bit about it myself. Oh right What are you excited about this year? I mean, honestly, I'm excited about our event. So, you know, it sounds like this is a shameless plug, but really, like, there's a new event that we have.

It's KETX at the Rivian stage, and it's gonna be an all-Austin lineup, and that will be three days during South by Southwest. We also have the KETLive at Schultz Garden, which will be an international lineup. But right now, we still have the lineup kind of, you now, close to our chest at the moment. Close to the vest? Yeah, yeah. You're not telling us nothing?

Well, you know, we've got to work out the last little details, but you know perhaps some of these bands that I just mentioned will be indeed on those bills. All right, we've been talking with Ryan when he's a host and producer for our sister station, KTX, we're gonna have a link to his latest in the show notes for today's podcast, Ryan, thank you so much for sharing the new music with us today. Thanks, Myles.

You can start planning for everything KUTX has planned for South by Southwest 2026 by heading over to kutx.org. And don't forget that Austin Signal will be doing a live show out at Schultz Beer Garden to kick off the festival. Hopefully you can join us out there and we'll have more details in the coming days. It's gonna be a lot of fun guys. And that's it for today on Austin

Signal. We'll have More about the stories we shared with you today in the podcast show And you can find more from us at KUT.org slash Signal. Casey Cheek is our technical director today and Jerry Keanu is wearing a different hat as the show's producer. I'm your host, Myles Bloxson. Austin Signal will be back at the same time tomorrow. Right here on KUT News and trust me you don't want to miss it. We'll talk to you then and I hope you have a wonderful day. Stay kind. You