“It's been very steady. Everything is going really well,” said Bloom. “We had a pretty good rush Monday morning when the early voting polls opened, but since then things have pretty well smoothed out and been steady.”

As of late Friday afternoon, early voting polls had collected 3,530 ballots, accounting for more than 16 percent of the registered voters in the county, a percentage Bloom said she's very pleased with.

“We've had elections where we didn't even get 16 percent of the registered voters through the entire process. This year, we had 16.5 percent collected after just the first four days of early voting. It's very impressive. I'm very pleased with the way its going.”

And though the turnout has been impressive, it doesn't necessarily come as a surprise.

“It's the election that's bringing out so many voters,” said Bloom. “We're about 200 ballots behind where we were this time in the 2004 election, and with such a hotly contested presidential race, we're about where I thought we'd be right now.”

Bloom said the electronic voting machines and ballots have yet to offer the election staff or voters any problems, a welcome break from past elections.

“It's going smoothly, almost too smoothly,” she said with a laugh. “Nearly every election you have some sort of problem, but this year it has been really good. The only mistake we've found so far with the ballot is vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's first name is misspelled. The 'h' was left off her name. A few voters have brought that one to our attention.”

Parking at the county courthouse has also been a concern, according to Bloom, but not for voters.

“I haven't received any complaints from voters as to the lack of parking around the courthouse,” said Bloom. “The only complaints I've had is from the courthouse employees, who are having to circle the courthouse to find a parking spot after lunch.”

Bloom said branch voting in this year's contest — Canterbury Retirement Center Wednesday, Parkview Nursing Center Thursday and early Friday at the Texas State Veteran's Home — will continue next week.

“We'll be at the Spring City Senior Citizen Center Tuesday from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.,” said Bloom. “And Wednesday we will be at the SouthWest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf (SWCID) from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.”

With a week of early voting left, Bloom said area residents can avoid long lines on election day by taking advantage of early balloting.

“We really want to encourage everyone to vote early,” she said. “On average, the longest wait times we've had for people voting is 10 to 15 minutes. That's not a lot when you consider the wait is two to three hours in some cities. We haven't had any lines running outside the courtroom door yet, so this is an excellent chance to avoid standing in line Nov. 4.”

For more information on early voting, contact Bloom's office at 264-2273.

Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it