Early voting totals down from 2014 primary
When early voting closed on Friday for the March 6 Primary Election, about 16 percent of the 5,536 registered Stephens County voters had cast their ballots, according to Tax Assessor-Collector Christie Latham.
Latham, who also is the county’s Election Administrator, said there were 885 early votes cast during the past two weeks of early voting that started on Tuesday, Feb. 20, and ended on Friday, March 2. That’s down from 1,221 early votes cast during early voting in the 2014 Primary Election. However, she said, Friday’s total does not include ballots by mail that have been received but have not been processed and added to the totals.
One factor which might have affected early voter turnout this year was there were two fewer days for early voting. There was no voting on Wednesday, Feb 21, and Thursday, Feb 22, because of icy weather.
“I’m a little surprised there hasn’t been a bigger turnout,” Latham said. “I know people may think bad weather days may have affected the turnout, but they’ve had some beautiful sunshiny days to vote.”
The average age for early voters was 50.
Latham said that because of increased campaigning over the weekend, she expects there will be big turnout on Election Day. She said some of the local candidates in contested races picked up voter lists to see who had already voted and who had not. “So, they’re going to go out and shake a stick,” she said. “I think there’ll be a good turnout, plus a lot of people prefer to vote on election day.”
Latham said that on election night she will try to have the early voting results posted at 7 p.m. or as quickly as possible after polls close at 7 p.m.
As for posting Election Day results at the courthouse Tuesday night, she asks people to be patient because she wants to make sure it’s done right and avoid mistakes.
“It’s a lengthy process,” she said. “By the time we get everything in and we run the ballots, it just takes some time.”
Latham said she wants to remind voters that in Texas, you can vote in either party’s primary. She said when people come to vote, they will be asked if they want a Democratic or Republican ballot.
“It doesn’t make you a Democrat or make you a Republican,” she said. “The only restriction is in the runoff. You can’t switch parties. If you voted Democrat in the primary, you cannot come back in the runoff and vote Republican or vise versa. However, if you didn’t vote at all in the primary, you can vote either way you want to in the runoff.”
While there are no local contested races on the Democratic ballot this election, there are there are several state-wide races on the ballot, including candidates for governor and lieutenant governor. All of the local contested races are on the Republican ballot. For more details on the election, click here to visit the Breckenridge Texan’s Primary Election page, including sample ballots, candidate profiles and more.
Number of votes cast in 2018 Primary Early Voting
Number of votes cast in Early Voting
Party Feb. 20 Feb. 23 Feb. 26 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Mar. 1 Mar. 2 Totals
Democrat 0 1 5 2 0 5 3 16
Republican 103 116 122 104 119 110 195 869
Total 103 117 127 106 119 115 198 885
On Election Day, voting will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m in each precinct voting location. Those locations are:
Precinct 1
First National Bank Tower room
101 E. Walker
Precinct 2
First Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall
1601 W. Elliott
Precinct 3
Breckenridge Chamber of Commerce
100 E. Elm
Precinct 4
BISD Support Center (Bus Barn)
907 U.S. Highway 183 North
Precinct 5
Wayland Volunteer Fire Department
10276 FM 1852
Story and photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan
