Happy Monday!

⛅ Today's weather: Mostly sunny, with a high around 80.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Harris Kerr!

Today’s newsletter is 1,026 words — a 4-minute read.

In-person early voting turnout in several large Texas counties is surpassing turnout during the first week of voting in 2018, when the state last saw a high-profile Senate race.

Why it matters: It's hard to draw hints from early voting as to which way the election will tilt.

• Polls have suggested close statewide races, starting with the race for U.S. Senate between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton, and for governor, pitting Republican incumbent Greg Abbott against Democrat Gina Hinojosa.

Flashback: Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz defeated Democrat Beto O'Rourke by 2.6 percentage points in 2018, the closest a Democrat has come to winning a statewide election since the 1990s.

• O'Rourke appeared to benefit from unusually high turnout for a Texas midterm election.

State of play: Democratic enthusiasm suggested by polling is showing up at the ballot box in some key counties, according to voting data collected by the Texas Secretary of State's Office.

• Turnout in Dallas (23%) and Travis (25%) counties, with rich troves of Democratic votes, is outpacing turnout in key counties with a history of voting Republican, including Montgomery (18%), outside Houston, and two counties where President Trump is scheduled to appear tomorrow: Nueces (18%) and Lubbock (20%).
• Turnout in Harris and Bexar counties was 20% and 17% respectively.

Caveat: The state's figures might not be fully updated in some cases.

What they're saying: If turnout in Republican counties lags turnout in Democratic strongholds by midweek, "then that's where the warning bells will be going off within the Abbott campaign in particular," Mark Jones, political science professor at Rice University, tells Axios.

The intrigue: Tarrant County, a battleground in recent elections and a key county once again, has seen high turnout (24%) so far.

• Jon Taylor, political science department chair at the University of Texas at San Antonio, tells Axios if the county goes blue, it would be "all over for Republicans."

The bottom line: "You're seeing a lot of enthusiasm among Democrats," Taylor says. "But at the same time … there's a lot of unknowns here."

City of Austin efforts to lower speed limits and install traffic calming treatments are reducing speeding and crashes, per a new city report.

Why it matters: Speeding is a leading cause of crashes in Austin.

State of play: 60 people have died in car crashes in Austin so far this year, down from 79 deaths during the same period last year.

• Austin has recorded 8,085 crashes through Oct. 23, down from 9,123 through that time last year.

What they found: The report, "Speed Management in Austin," looked at how traffic calming features such as speed cushions, mini-roundabouts and pedestrian crossing islands, along with lower speed limits, improved safety since 2020.

• Vehicles traveling at least 10 mph over the speed limit fell 78% at locations with added traffic calming features.
• Lowering speed limits reduced high-end speeding by 14% and led to 17% fewer crashes involving death or serious injury.
• Crashes involving death or serious injury fell 39% on residential streets after Austin approved a 25-mph default speed limit on hundreds of miles of streets.

What they're saying: "Even where measured speed reductions are modest, they represent meaningful decreases in the frequency of the most dangerous speeding behaviors," according to the report's authors.

Flashback: The City Council authorized lower speed limits along 73 segments of high-speed arterial roadways in 2020 and 2022.

The bottom line: Traffic calming techniques are slowing traffic — and leading to fewer crashes.

🌳 Zilker Park's Great Lawn will remain closed for the department's annual maintenance period, which runs through the end of the month. The city expects portions of the park to remain closed beyond October. (KXAN)

⚖️ A Travis County jury found Daniel Perry not guilty of deadly conduct after the 2020 shooting of a Black Lives Matter protester. (KUT)

💻 Apple CEO John Ternus visited Summitt Elementary School in Northwest Austin on Friday as part of an Apple-supported coding program. (CBS Austin)

Here's what's on deck this week.

Monday

🍿 Watch a screening of "Hereditary" at the Bullock Museum's IMAX Theatre. 7:30pm, $15.

🩷 Take part in games, silent auctions and raffles to support breast cancer awareness and research at all Little Woodrow's locations Monday through Sunday. Free, restaurant hours.

Tuesday

🎹 Listen to Grammy award-winning composer A.R. Rahman at Bass Concert Hall. 7:30pm, $94.

Wednesday

🎶 Catch Teddy Swims on tour at the Moody Center. 7pm, $30.

🎬 Head to The Goonies 40th anniversary screening and Q&A at ACL Live. 8pm, $47.

Thursday

🎃 Celebrate Halloween at Meanwhile Brewing, with two Frankenstein movies, popcorn and treats. 6-10pm, free.

🗳️ Your Axios Austin reporters do the work so you can quickly understand what matters when you head to the polls.

📍 Become a member today and support local journalism this election season.

Thank you for reading and supporting local election coverage.

California-based Archer Aviation announced plans Friday for an electric air taxi network connecting the Austin airport, Austin Executive Airport and Circuit of the Americas.

Driving the news: The company says its all-electric aircraft could turn 60- to 90-minute drives into flights lasting just 10 to 20 minutes, offering travelers a ways to bypass Austin traffic.

• Austin is one of three Texas cities, alongside Dallas and Houston, included in Archer's proposed networks.

What's next: The company, which has not announced a launch date or ticket prices, plans to operate in Texas under a federal electric aircraft pilot program.

Thanks to Bob Gee for editing this newsletter.

📖 Asher is reading this thoughtful and beautifully written Esquire piece by Austin journalist Tony Plohetski about his relationship with his dad — and about growing up gay in Mississippi.

👀 Nicole is thinking about snagging Ali Wong tickets.

Congrats to our Friday news quiz shoutout winner Rachel Jackson, who moved with her husband and then-2-year-old twins to Austin nearly 20 years ago so he could attend UT Law. She works in tech and is a volunteer deputy registrar, helping to get people to the polls.