Crowds are decidedly mixed on this, the last day of early voting. At the Fiesta along I-35, and at the Pleasant Valley Albertsons, there's currently little or no lines. Elsewhere, at the HEB located on East Seventh Street, and Randalls on Ben White, anywhere from 25 to 70 people have been spotted in line.

As crowds will probably get worse when people get off work, you know what to do: Go vote now. Most polls close at 7pm, although Northcross and Highland Malls and Austin Public Library's Howson Branch are to be open until 8pm. For more information on early voting locations, visit the Chronicle's voting information page.

   Everyone seems scared of my Oklahoma State Cowboys. Let me tell you, I’ve seen this team, up close and in person. Make no mistake – they will beat someone this Saturday. The question is who? It could, just maybe, be the high and mighty Longhorns. State has knocked off bigger game: even Texas fans remember the Cowboys’ beatings of the very teams Mack Brown & Co. were regularly embarrassed by in Bob Stoops and those hated and feared Oklahoma Sooners.
   It could be that Oklahoma State comes waltzing across Texas and winds up beating the No. 4 team in the land. But it will more likely be themselves the Pokes lay waste to.

As we previously mentioned, the PBS newsmagazine NOW will put the microscope on Texas Congressional District 31 (which stretches from far north Austin, through Fort Hood, and up to Erath County) as a study of how the war in Iraq is affecting this year's election. Dist. 31 pits Democratic challenger Mary Beth Harrell, a military wife and mother of two active soldiers, including one in Iraq, against incumbent Republican John Carter, a staunch supporter of the war and President Bush. Here in Austin, NOW airs at 7:30pm on KLRU.

Lots of exposure for independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman today. At 8:30pm, he sits down for a chat with Evan Smith on KLRU's 'Texas Monthly' Talks, and at 10:35 he will appear on The Late Show With David Letterman on CBS. Kinky was already making the TV rounds in New York this morning with an interview on MSNBC.

Also on KLRU, at 8pm Austin Now will profile three local political activists an issues facing the voters, and Austin Mayor Will Wynn will be interviewed concerning the municipal bond vote that is also on the ballot. And of course, old PBS standbys The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer (6pm) and Washington Week (7pm) will be loaded with election news.

Okay, I'll get my criticisms out of the way first: Those who watched Hacking Democracy last night got equal parts journalism and activist propaganda in the HBO documentary on the dangers of electronic voting machines. Now, far be it from me to dismiss journalism with a viewpoint – obviously, that is The Austin Chronicle's bread and butter. But still, I felt manipulated. Bev Harris and her cohorts are portayed as noble knights who have never made a mistake; I would like to have seen the instances when she went to an elections administrator or corporate voting machine executive and said "Gotcha!" and then, when shown an error in her logic, she said "Oh. I see. Sorry." Having done some investigative journalism myself, I've had the occasional moment like that. And maybe it just bugs me because I'm a print media guy, but I could have done without the Da Vinci Code-esque music intended to get my pulse racing. Nevertheless …

Okay, you just lost your last excuse for not voting. Capital Metro says:

"AUSTIN, Texas, November 3, 2006 – Central Texas voters will have an easy option for getting to the polls on Election Day. Capital Metro will offer free rides on all bus routes on Tuesday, November 7. 'We are proud to offer Central Texas citizens a convenient transportation option on Election Day,' said Capital Metro President/CEO Fred Gilliam. Destination signs on all buses will include a message about the free rides as a reminder to passengers. Customers can plan their route to the polls using Capital Metro’s convenient online trip planner at www.capmetro.org, or by calling (512) 474-1200."

...judging from this clip.

(p.s. If you're at work, you might want to put your headphones on.)

Travis County's early voting numbers spiked even higher today; Friday, the last day of early voting, could be a little crazy. After averaging only about 5,000-6,000 per day last week, numbers climbed this week up to 11,828 today. Combined with mail-in ballots, a total of 79,503 votes have been cast, or 14.31% of registered voters.

County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said long lines were reported at voting sites today, and she encourages everyone to take advantage of the last day of early voting on Friday, so as to avoid the possible madness on Election Day. “Voters who think they may have schedule conflicts next Tuesday definitely should take advantage of the final opportunity to cast a ballot on Friday,” DeBeauvoir said.

The Humane Society Legislative Fund released its Congressional Scorecard last week, tracking federal legislators' voting records on major animal-welfare policies. Those policy issues included: a bill banning the transport, possession, purchase, sale, or USDA-funded inspection of horses to be slaughtered for human consumption; legislation creating felony-level penalties for dogfighting and cockfighting and related interstate commerce; the Downed Animal Protection Act prohibiting USDA certification of meat from livestock too injured or sick to walk; a bill restoring a prohibition against using tax dollars to slaughter wild horses and burros; and the PETS act, requiring local authorities to consider pets and service animals in disaster planning. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson was the only Texas official to score a perfect 100, but with a score of zero, Republican Sen. John Cornyn was not alone in the worst of the worst, joined in shame by Texas Reps. Louie Gohmer, Ruben Hinojosa, Randy Neugebauer, and Ted Poe. (On Wednesday, the HSLF announced that it endorses Lloyd Doggett in District 25)– Dan Mottola

I went to a press conference this morning by VoteRescue, an activist group dedicated to ridding our nation of electronic voting machines and going back to paper ballots. More on that press conference later, but in the meantime, keep the 8pm time slot open tonight (Thursday, Nov. 2) so you can watch the documentary Hacking Democracy on HBO. I'm told that if you aren't alarmed by computer voting yet, you will be after you view it (read this preview in today's Salon.com). In fact, if you head down to the Fox and Hound Tavern at 401 Guadalupe, you can watch it with the VoteRescue folks. They'll meet at 7pm for a training session on video documentation of irregularities in this year's election (bring your video camera if you're interested), and then watch Hacking at 8pm.