EARLY VOTING FOR MARCH 5 PRIMARY STARTS TUESDAY
Early voting begins tomorrow (Tuesday) for the March 5th primary election.
Voters can visit the Washington County Courthouse Annex between tomorrow and March 1st to cast ballots in several local, state and federal races. Early voting is being held for a total of 123 hours over 11 days.
According to Washington County Elections Administrator Carol Jackson, the county has 24,954 registered voters as of today (Monday).
The Republican ticket will have candidates for sheriff, district attorney, commissioner of Precincts 1 and 3, Precinct 3 constable, State House District 12 and U.S. Congressional District 10. Democratic ballots will have the races for State House District 12 and U.S. Congressional District 10. Voters will also choose their party’s nominations for races like U.S. President, U.S. Senator, Texas Railroad Commissioner and State Board of Education District 10.
For sheriff, Trey Holleway and David Blakey are running for the position held by Otto Hanak, who is not pursuing another term.
Similarly, Julie Renken is not seeking re-election as district attorney, a role now being sought by Derek Estep and Dave Bunger.
For the commissioners races, both Precinct 1 and 3 incumbents Don Koester and Kirk Hanath are vying for re-election. They are challenged respectively by Misti Hartstack Corn and Billy Ruemke.
Brad Kuecker and Damon Wegner are seeking the Precinct 3 constable position that formerly belonged to Blakey, who stepped down upon announcing his candidacy for sheriff.
Running for State House District 12 on the Republican ballot are Ben Bius, John Harvey Slocum and Trey Wharton. The winner of the Republican nomination will go on to face Democrat Dee Howard Mullins and Libertarian Robert Profili in November.
In U.S. Congressional District 10, Republican incumbent Michael McCaul faces Jared Lovelace. The winner of that race will go up this fall against either Theresa Boisseau or Keith McPhail on the Democratic side, Independent Stefan Medley and Libertarian Bill Kelsey.
When casting a ballot in person, voters must show one of the following approved forms of photo ID:
- Texas Driver License
- Texas Personal Identification Card
- Passport
- Texas Handgun License
- Military Identification Card
- Citizenship Certificate
- Texas Election Identification Card
Voters who do not possess and cannot reasonably obtain one of the seven approved forms of photo ID can fill out a Reasonable Impediment Declaration at the polls and present an alternative form of identification, such as a utility bill, bank statement, government check, or a voter registration certificate.
The deadline to submit ballot-by-mail applications for the primary is Friday. Postmarked applications received after this date will be rejected and the voter will be directed to either vote during early voting or on Election Day.
Early voting hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. February 26 – March 1.
Those who choose to vote on Election Day, March 5th, will go to their designated polling place according to their precinct number to cast a ballot.
Further election information is available on the Washington County Elections Office webpage.