Early Voting numbers down ahead of Primary Election Day on March 1
By Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
Election Day for the Republican and Democratic primaries is Tuesday, March 1, and Early Voting were low, compared with the 2018 election.
When Early Voting closed on Friday, Feb. 25, Stephens County voters had cast 657 ballots, which is 11.72% of the 5,604 registered voters. In the Republican Primary, there were 598 in-person votes and 42 ballots by mail, for a total of 640 votes. In the Democratic Primary, there were 12 in-person votes and 5 ballots by mail, for a total of 17 votes.
In 2018, the last time voters cast their ballots for similar offices, including County Treasurer and County Clerk, there were 885 votes in Early Voting and Ballots by Mail that had been received by the end of Early Voting. That was about 16 percent of the 5,536 registered voters at the time. The 2018 numbers were down from the 1,221 early votes cast during early voting in the 2014 Primary Election.
The decline in Early Voting in 2018 was attributed to two days of bad weather that caused the courthouse to be closed. A similar winter storm shut down the courthouse and voting for almost two days this year. The courthouse was closed for much of the day on Wednesday, Feb. 23, and all day on Thursday, Feb. 24. There was only one in-person vote cast on Wednesday and none on Thursday.
Candidates
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. Click the following links to read the Candidate Profiles for each office: County Clerk Candidate Profiles and County Treasurer Candidate Profiles.
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.
Although none of the local candidates have Democratic opponents, write-in candidates may file to be on the ballot for the General Election, scheduled for Nov. 8. Declarations of write-in candidacy must be made between July 23 and Aug. 22.
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.
BALLOT BY MAIL
For those voters who requested and received a Ballot by Mail, their marked ballots must be received by the Elections Administrator at the Stephens County Courthouse by 7 p.m. on Election Day, March 1; or by 5:00 p.m. the first business day after Election Day if the postmarked ballot was mailed within the United States from non-military voters and from any military voters who submitted an Application for Ballot by Mail (“ABBM”); or by the fifth day after Election Day if the ballot was submitted from outside the United States.
If you received a Ballot by Mail but have decided to submit it in person, you may hand it in on Election Day only, no earlier.
Election Day
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
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