Breckenridge Texan

Tuesday, May 24, will be Election Day for the runoff elections for the Texas Republican and Democratic primaries.

According to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office, during Early Voting, Stephens County had 655 total ballots cast in both primaries, including in-person voting and mail-in ballots. In the Republican primary run-off, there were 556 in-person voters and 83 mail-n ballots. In the Democratic primary run-off, there were seven in-person voters and nine mail-in ballots.

When and where to vote

Election day voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 24, at the following locations, depending on which precinct you are in:

• Precincts 1 and 5 will vote at the First National Bank Tower Room, 101 E. Walker St.
• Precinct 2 will vote at First Presbyterian Church, 1601 W. Elliott St.
• Precinct 3 will vote at the Breckenridge Chamber of Commerce, 100 E. Elm St.
• Precinct 4 will vote at the BISD District Service Support Center (Bus Barn), 907 U.S. Highway 183 N.

Your precinct number can be found on your voter registration card, or you can call the Tax Office at 254-559-2732 and they can give you the information.

VOTER ID

In order to vote in person, citizens who are registered to vote must show an acceptable photo ID. According to the Texas Secretary of State’s VoteTexas website, acceptable forms of photo ID are:

• Texas Driver License issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)
• Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS
• Texas Personal Identification Card issued by DPS
• Texas Handgun License issued by DPS
• United States Military Identification Card containing the person’s photograph
• United States Citizenship Certificate containing the person’s photograph
• United States Passport (book or card)

With the exception of the U.S. Citizenship Certificate, which does not expire, the acceptable form of photo identification for voters aged 18-69 may be expired no more than four years before being presented for voter qualification at the polling place. For voters aged 70 or older, the acceptable form of photo identification may be expired for any length of time if the identification is otherwise valid.

If you are registered to vote but do not have one of those forms of ID, talk to the election official at the polling place to figure out how you may cast your ballot.

On the Ballot

There are no runoffs for local offices, but the race for the newly configured State House of Representatives District 60 will have a runoff between incumbent Glenn Rogers and his challenger Mike Olcott.

Stephens County is in the Texas House of Representatives District 60, which currently includes Stephens, Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Eastland, Shackelford, Palo Pinto and Hood counties, and is represented by Rogers. However, the district was reconfigured in the redistricting by the Texas Legislature last year, and the new District 60 will include only Stephens, Palo Pinto and Parker counties.

In the Republican Primary in March, Rogers received a total of 12,160 votes – 43.69% of the votes cast in the race. Olcott, who lives in Parker County, garnered 10,045 votes – 36.09%. Candidates Kit Marshall and Lucas Turner received 3,236 and 2,393 votes, respectively.

Because none of the candidates received more than 50 percent of the votes, the top two candidates – Rogers and Olcott – are in a runoff election. Voters are allowed to vote only in the runoff election for the party they voted for in the primary election. However, if a voter did not cast a ballot in the primary, they can vote in either a Democratic or Republican runoff race. That means, voters who voted in the Republican Primary or who did not vote in the primary election in March may vote in the current runoff between Rogers and Olcott. Those who voted in the Democratic Primary may not vote in the Republican Primary runoff.

In Stephens County, the Republican runoff ballot also will include the following races:

• Attorney General: Ken Paxton and George P. Bush
• Commissioner Of The General Land Office: Dawn Buckingham and Tim Westley
• Railroad Commissioner: Wayne Christian and Sarah Stogner

Locally, the Democratic runoff ballot will include the following:

• Lieutenant Governor: Mike Collier and Michelle Beckley
• Attorney General: Rochelle Mercedes Garza and Joe Jaworski
• Comptroller Of Public Accounts: Janet T. Dudding and Angel Luis Vega
• Commissioner Of The General Land Office: Jay Kleberg and Sandragrace Martinez

Additional information

In Stephens County, the Elections Administrator, Christie Latham, is also the Tax Assessor/Collector; therefore, the Tax Office will be open for election business only on Tuesday, May 24. All property tax, auto registration, title transfers, and boat and motor transactions will have to wait until Wednesday morning at 8 a.m., according to the tax office. They will be focused on the election all day Tuesday.

For more information about the election, visit the website VoteTexas.gov or call the Stephens County Elections Office at 254-559-2732.