With two days left until early voting, Lamar County Elections Supervisor Tricia Johnson said Wednesday afternoon that voter turnout could be higher than previously expected for the upcoming Nov. 8 general election on Tuesday.
“So far we’ve had over 6,000 voters and we’ve gotten 500 ballots in the mail,” Johnson said, adding that she expects Friday, the last day of early voting, to be another big day of turnout. “So far it’s a good turnout for the midterms.”
Voter turnout for the March 22 primary was 7,243 ballots, with 22.68% of the county’s 31,939 voters voting.
After early voting closes Friday at 5 p.m., Johnson and her assistant, Amanda McClure, will program the voting machines on Tuesday and prepare them for carriers that store weekend voting equipment that will be delivered to the county’s 26 polling places on Monday.
“We’re providing turnkey equipment and everything that poll workers will need at 6 a.m. Tuesday to prepare for the polls to open at 7 a.m.,” Johnson said. “I expect things to go smoothly on Tuesday, just like the primary election.”
Ahead of the March 2022 primary, Lamar County reduced the number of precincts from the previous 32 to 26 to reduce costs and more closely align with current precinct lines following a required redistricting after the 2020 census.
In Tuesday’s election, voters will be asked to choose between incumbent U.S. Rep. Pat Phelan (R-4th District) and challengers Democrat Ora Omer and Libertarian John Simmons for the only national office on the ballot.
At the state level, voters will choose from competitive elections a governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller of public accounts, commissioners of the General Land Office, Department of Agriculture and Railway Commission, as well as judges of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.
The competitive race for State Board of Education 12 is Pam Little as a Republican, Alex Cornwallis as a Democrat and Christy Mowry as a Libertarian.
Candidates on the ballot but declared elected include: District 1 State Sen. Brian Hughes; State Representative 1st District Gary VanDiver;; 76th Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Justice Scott E. Stevens; and 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit Judge Charles Van Cleef.
Lamar County Republicans on the unopposed ballot include: County Judge Brendan Bell; Circuit Court Judge William Harris; County Clerk Shontel Golden; County Clerk Ruth Sisson; County Treasurer Cami Boyer; District 2 Commissioner Lonnie Layton, the lone Democrat; District 4 Commissioner Kevin Anderson; Precinct 1, Justice of the Peace James Maisie; Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Crystal Duke; Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Tim Reisinger; Precinct 4, Justice of the Peace Jimmy Steed; Precinct 5 and Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Anson Amis.
Voters from precincts within Paris will also be asked to vote for or against 24 proposals in a special election to amend the Paris Statute.
Acceptable identification to show at the polls includes a Texas driver’s license, Texas voter ID card, Texas ID card, handgun license, U.S. citizenship photo ID, U.S. military photo ID or U.S. passport, according to the website of Lamar County. .