Early voting in Texas starts this Monday, October 20th and runs through Friday, October 31st. No reason is needed in Texas to cast your vote early, any registered voter can do so. Also, you can use any early voting location in your county. Williamson County residents take note... this means you cannot use most Austin locations. The Obama campaign has a web site that will show the closest early voting location to you, its hours, and other nearby locations:
http://www.voteforchange.comIf you're of Democratic leanings, the
Austin Chronicle has published its list of endorsements for the general election:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A689835. They give a decent amount of background on a lot of the lesser known races. City of Austin Prop 2 gets a particularly long treatment.