Tuesday marks the second day of early voting in the runoff election for sheriff -- and Taylor County is seeing a record-breaking voter turnout.

A total of 1,257 votes were cast in Taylor County on Monday, the first day of early voting. The first day of early voting in the May run-off election only brought in 518 voters.

In 2006, the primary runoff for District 71 state representative between Susan King and Kevin Christian brought in 551 early voters.

In 2002, a total of 1,300 voters came out for the County Court of Law #1 runoff between Judge Robert Harper and Chris Carnahan.

Taylor County has Republican runoff elections for sheriff featuring incumbent Les Bruce and challenger Ricky Bishop, along with a battle for justice of the peace. That could be one reason so many voters are heading to the polls early.

"As of one o'clock today, we had 828 voters already which, when you combine the first and second day of the runoff voting, will surpass by the end of the day what we had in the first full week of voting in the May primary," said Joy Ellinger, Taylor County GOP chair, on Tuesday.

She attributed the increased interest to heightened voter attention to local and statewide races.

"It's exciting that people are finally paying attention to the issues. They're paying attention to the races and knowing that their vote matters," she said. "It doesn't matter if they're rich or poor. Iit doesn't matter about your education background or where you live. Iit matters that you vote. That is your basic right."

Kristi Allyn, Taylor County elections administrator, also said the numbers look good.

"That just tells me were gonna have a really good turnout for this runoff election," she said. "About 50 percent of voters will vote early, so that tells us pretty much what's gonna happen on election day."

She said the convenience of early voting plays a factor in early voting numbers.

Early voting ends Friday, July 27.

Early voting locations and hours:

Taylor County Plaza (400 Oak Street, Suite 101) from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at branch locations:

Books-A-Million in the Mall of Abilene: 4310 Buffalo Gap Road

K-Mart: 4565 South 1st Street

Hastings: 4701 South 14th Street

United: 1095 N. Judge Ely Boulevard