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Dallas County Democrats had grand hopes for this election.

Though its the middle of a presidential term, when Republicans typically do better, Democrats were banking on a robust voter turnout for several reasons most notably the gubernatorial campaign of Wendy Davis.

The state senator from Fort Worth hoped to increase the Democratic share of the vote here from the 55 percent achieved by Bill White in 2010 to at least 58 percent. Though she may still hit that, the raw total of votes will be far from what she needs to have a chance against Republican Greg Abbott.

Early voting in Dallas County dipped by 5 percent from the 2010 total, Elections Administrator Toni Pippins-Poole said Monday. Now, Democrats arent as confident of local victories as they otherwise might be. Some close county contests could be decided by a slew of unknown voters the parties arent familiar with. They generally come from Republican areas but could have been brought to the process by Davis.

Democrats have unleashed a furious voter-contact program led by the political arm of the Texas Organizing Project, with part of that money coming from Davis.

But for this election cycle, Democrats have been beset by disunity, bickering and coasting by the partys well-known candidates.

Though they dont talk about it publicly, the local party has never been on the same page with Battleground Texas, the group of former Barack Obama field organizers charged with the task of making Texas competitive.

The group forged its own path and was instrumental in boosting Democratic statehouse candidates like Leigh Bailey in House District 108, Carol Donovan in House District 107 and Susan Motley in House District 105. And, of course, its main objective is to get Davis elected governor.

Democrats grumble that the local party was left with the challenge of turning out base voters even though it had far less money for voter turnout than it did in 2010. They complain that Battleground Texas did not share all of its data on voters with the local Democratic Party.

Such information is useful in targeting voters with messages theyre likely to respond to, determining whos most likely to support Democratic candidates and helping get them to the polls. Local party officials and Battleground leaders could not reach a compromise this summer to share the information, people with knowledge of their meetings say.

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Jeffers: Disunity dogged Dallas County Democrats this election season