(Seguin) – Voters will be heading to the polls today for the Joint Texas Republican and Democratic Primary Runoff Elections. The runoff election, which should have been held in May, was postponed until today amid concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic that became a huge concern just days after the March 3 Primary Election.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Lisa Hayes, the elections administrator for Guadalupe County, says it was obvious that there would be some changes with some of the polling locations on election day. She says while there might not be as many as in the past, there will be more than enough polling sites especially since each location is open to all Guadalupe County voters.
“Unfortunately, some of the locations we normally use for election day that the voters are used to seeing when they go to the polls were not available. So, we had to reduce from 34 voting locations to 28 but that still gives voters plenty of options when it comes to election day voting locations and we have those locations on our website. We have them list in our office. They can call and ask where the nearest location is. That’s one of the great things about Vote Centers. We went to Vote Centers in 2017 and that gives the voters the option of going anywhere that Guadalupe County has an election day location,” said Hayes.
Hayes says her office will also be working hard throughout the day to ensure that voters find their nearest polling location.
“If they do go to a normal location that we use that is not in use, we will have a sign on the door telling them that that location is not being used and listing the nearest locations. So, we are hoping to eliminate some of the inconvenience and we’ve done the best that we can with what we had available but I’d hate to cause the voters any difficulty on election day when I know how important it is that they come out and vote,” said Hayes.
Hayes says of course, there had been concern about the potential voter turnout for this runoff race that is being held mid-summer. Not only because of the timing but also because of safety concerns with the voting and the need to limit crowds with social distancing. However, she says she’s been surprised with the early voting numbers in Guadalupe County that show a high interest in the races.
“I have the total ballots cast for early voting and that’s 6,139 and the voters really took advantage of utilizing the ballot by mail process as well and I think that definitely bumped our numbers up,” said Hayes.
Hayes says what makes these numbers even more impressive is the interest in voting despite the lack of local items on the ballot.
“We had I think what I would consider a great turnout for the run-off — of course, early voting was extended by the governor, so we don’t normally have these many days of early voting in our runoff. But, when I look at the days of the runoff that we normally do have, our numbers were actually just slightly less than the 2018 runoff, early voting numbers which are really good because in 2018, we had a lot of local races on the ballot in the runoff. This election, we have federal and state election races so the turnout was really good. The voters came out. They made their voices heard and I hope they do the same thing on election day,” said Hayes.
Those garnering the top vote today will earn the Republican or Democratic nomination for the individual races appearing on the November Presidential and General Election.
Depending where you live in Guadalupe County, the Republican will feature two separate races for United States Representative.
For United State Representative District 15, the Republican ballot features candidates Ryan Krause and Monica De La Cruz-Hernandez, while US Rep. District 35 features Candidates Jenny Garcia Sharon and Guillermo William Hayward.
The Republican ballot also includes the race for the Member, State Board of Education District 5 race. That ballot features Candidates Lani Popp and Robert Morrow.
In Guadalupe County, the Democratic ballot features the races for United States Senator and Railroad Commissioner. The candidates for Senator
Mary “MJ” Hegar and Royce West. Seeking the Democratic nomination for Railroad Commissioner are Roberto “Beto” Alonzo and Chrysta Castandeda.
To ensure the safety of not only voters but also of poll workers, Hayes says the elections office has implemented all the required safety standards to make the voting process as safe as possible. She says basically, the only thing that voters need to touch is the paper ballot itself.
Polls will be open today from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sample ballots for each respective registered voter or today’s polling locations can be found on the Guadalupe County Elections Office website at co.guadalupe.tx.us./elections.