Breckenridge Texan

Breckenridge and Stephens County are in the middle of two election cycles — the primaries and eventual election for county, state and national offices, and the elections for other local offices, including city, hospital and school boards —  and the deadline to register to vote in the first election on the calendar is Monday, Jan. 31.

The Primary Election for Stephens County will be on March 1, and the Local General Election (city commissioners, hospital board and school board) will be on May 7. Additionally, each of those elections will have Early Voting times.

Here are some important dates and information for local citizens to keep in mind:

VOTER REGISTRATION

The deadline to register to vote in the Primary Election is Monday, Jan. 31.

To determine if you are already registered, visit the Texas Secretary of State’s “Am I Registered?” website. There’s a brief online form for you to fill out with some basic information about yourself (for example, name, date of birth, county you live in), and then the site will instantly tell you whether or not you are registered to vote. You can also find out if you are registered to vote by calling or visiting the County Voter Registrar; in Stephens County, that’s Tax Assessor/Collector Christie Latham, who can be contacted in the courthouse or by phone at 254-559-2732.

If you are not registered to vote, you can get an application from the Voter Registrar’s office. Once it’s filled out, you can either return it in person by Jan. 31 to the office or mail it in. If you mail in your application, it must be postmarked by Jan. 31.

You can also fill out an online application, available on the Secretary of State’s website. If you fill out the online application, you will need to print it out and take it to the local Voter Registrar’s office or mail it in by Jan. 31

EARLY VOTING AND BALLOT BY MAIL

Early voting for the Primary Election will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 14-25 (Monday through Friday) at the Stephens County Courthouse, 200 W. Walker St.

Registered voters who meet certain criteria may also be eligible to vote by mail. To be eligible to vote by mail in Texas, you must:

• be 65 years or older;
• be sick or disabled;
• be out of the county on election day and during the period for early voting by personal appearance;
• be expected to give birth within three weeks before or after Election Day; or
• be confined in jail, but otherwise eligible.

Those wanting to vote by mail must request a Ballot by Mail by Feb. 18. For details on how to apply for a Ballot by Mail, click here. You may also request a Ballot by Mail for Stephens County by calling 254-559-2732 and requesting that an application to vote by mail be sent to you, or download the application here (PDF).

Voters wanting to vote by mail must re-apply every year in order to receive ballots for each election in that year. Also, they must indicate a party preference for the Primary Elections, i.e. either Republican or Democrat. There are instructions on the application.

2022 PRIMARY ELECTION

County and District Races

For the 2022 Primary Election, there will be two contested local races, as well as a variety of state and federal races, on the ballot.

Local offices up for re-election are County Judge, County Commissioner – Precinct 2, County Commissioner – Precinct 4, County Clerk, County Treasurer, Justice of the Peace and District Clerk.

Two of those offices, County Clerk and County Treasurer, have two candidates each in the Republican Party Primary. For County Clerk, incumbent Jackie Ensey filed for re-election, and D’Jean Thompson filed to run against Ensey. For County Treasurer, incumbent Sharon Trigg filed for re-election, and Nicole Cantrell filed to run against Trigg.

Additionally, the following incumbents filed to run in the Republican Primary and have no opponents:

• County Judge — Michael Roach
• County Commissioners – Precinct 2 — Mark McCullough
• County Commissioner – Precinct 4 — Eric O’Dell
• Justice of the Peace – Steve Spoon
• District Clerk — Christie Coapland

There are no local candidates running in the Democratic Party Primary.

STATE RACES

The primary ballots also will have candidates for many other offices on the state and national level.

In the Texas House of Representatives District 60 race, there are four Republican candidates: incumbent Glenn Rogers, Kit Marshall, Mike Olcott and Lucas Turner. District 60 was recently reconfigured by the Texas Legislature and now includes Stephens, Palo Pinto and Parker counties. There are no Democratic candidates.

For State Senate District 10, Republicans Phil King and Warren V. Norred have filed to run, and Beverly Powell is running in the Democratic primary. For the State Senate, Stephens County has been moved from District 28, which is currently represented by Charles Perry, to District 10, which will include Stephens, Shackelford, Palo Pinto, Callahan, Brown, Johnson and parts of Parker and Tarrant counties. King is the current State Representative for District 61.

Other offices that are up for re-election in 2022 include Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Commissioner of the General Land Office, Commissioner of Agriculture, Railroad Commissioner 2 and others.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE

During the recent redistricting, Stephens County was put into a different district for the U.S. House of Representatives seat.  Currently, the county is split, with the southern half in District 11, represented by August Pfluger, and the northern half in District 19, represented by Jodey Arrington.

Pfluger and Arrington will continue to represent their respective districts through the end of 2022. But, beginning with the March 2022 primaries, local voters will be voting for representatives in the reconfigured District 25, which includes Stephens, Young, Jack, Palo Pinto, Eastland, Erath, Comanche, Hood and Somervell counties, and parts of Parker, Callahan, Tarrant and Johnson counties.

Roger Williams represents the current District 25, which includes Bosque, Burnet, Coryell, Hamilton, Hill, Johnson, Lampasas, and Somervell counties and parts of Bell, Erath, Hays, Tarrant, and Travis counties. According to the Secretary of State’s office, Williams is the only candidate who has filed to run for the office in the Republican primary, and no Democrats filed to run.

GENERAL ELECTION FOR LOCAL POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS

In addition to the Primary Election in March and General Election in November, the General Election for Local Political Subdivisions will be on May 7. That election will cover the Breckenridge City Commission, Stephens Memorial Hospital District Board of Directors and Breckenridge Independent School District Board of Trustees.

Those entities are still in the process of accepting applications for candidates to be placed on their ballots for the May election. The filing process will continue through 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18.

For more details on those elections, click here to read the Breckenridge Texan article.