BEVERLY B. KAUFMAN COUNTY CLERK

For Immediate Release Contact: Hector de Leon Tuesday, February 26, 2008 713.755.6738 -713.539.0114

Less than half of the Early Voting locations are receiving 63% of the voters

Houston, TX- Early Voting-By-Personal-Appearance continued at a record pace in Harris County. And at the end of voting on Tuesday, less than half of the early voting locations had received sixty-three-percent of the total voters. As of Feb 26th, approximately 125, 000 voters had voted early by personal appearance, and the top 15 sites had received an estimated 79,000 of the voters.

“We are experiencing a historic turnout for a March Primary Election. And as early voting continues, I strongly encourage voters to consider using all of the early voting locations available to them.” said Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman, the chief elections officer of the County. “Choosing the right site could mean voting in less than ten minutes or having to wait a half-hour or longer.”

The five least used early voting sites include: Galena Park Library, 1500 Keene St.; Ripley House, 4410 Navigation, in second ward between Eastwood, Denver Harbor and Downtown, Lac Hong Square, 6628 Wilcrest Dr., in west Houston; George Bush Park, 16500 Westheimer Pkwy, in Southwest Harris County; and Hardy Senior Center, 11901 West Hardy Rd., in North Houston between the Beltway and Little York.

Harris County is third largest County in the Country with a total population of 3,886,207 and 1,826,231 registered voters. By law, there is al least one [but no more than two] early voting location per a State Representative District; and, a total of 35 voting locations thorough out the county.

Below appear the early voting sites by State Representative District and the least number of votes cast. Citizens are encouraged to use the site least used near their home or job:

Galena Park Library 143 Ripley House 148-R Lac Hong Square 133-V George Bush Park 149-G Hardy Senior Center 140 Julia C. Hester House 142-K Altharetta Yeargin Art Museum 133-M Moody Park 148-M IBEW Hall #66 144 Houston Community College SE 145 Tomball, Public Works Bldg. 130-T Baytown Community Center 128-B Ponderosa Fire Station #1 150 Cypress Top Park 130-C Main Office, Downtown Main The Power Center 131 Beebe Tabernacle Church 141-C Jersey Village, City Hall 135 Sunnyside MSC 146-S Alief Regional Library 149-A Franz Road Storefront (DPS) 132 Wallisville, North Channel Library 142-W Palm Center 147 Tracy Gee Community Center 137-T Kingwood Library 127 Harris County Annex #35 136 Pasadena, HC Annex #25 128-P Octavia Fields Library 141-H Acres Homes MSC 139 Bear Creek Community Center 138 Fiesta Mart 146-F Bayland Park Community Center 137-B Clear Lake, Freeman Library 129 Cypress Creek Library 126 Metropolitan MSC 134

Currently, about 95,000 voters have voted in person during the early voting period in the Democratic Primary and 29,330 in the Republican Primary. In person voting during the early voting period four years ago totaled 35,000 voters.

Sample ballots, early voting schedules and Election Day voting locations for the March 4th Primary Elections are now available on the Harris County Clerk’s elections website, www.harrisvotes.com. Voters may visit the website to view or download the information. To find a voter specific ballot, voters are encourage to visit the website and select the “Find Your Voting Information” option. Voters may also call 713-755-6965 for more information.

Early voting will continue through this Friday, Feb. 29th. ####