Polling locations for early voting have been a little slower than usual this year, Ector County Elections Administrator Lisa Sertuche said Friday.
Early voting for the primary elections began Tuesday and ends March 2.
A total of 1,825 ballots were turned in between Tuesday and Friday, which includes a total of 502 mail ballots. Totals from the Ector County Elections Office showed 1,446 Republicans voted and 379 Democrats voted. Sertuche said it is typical for Ector County to see a larger Republican voter turnout than Democrat.
“That’s very low,” Sertuche said of the early voting totals on Friday. “We’re hoping that this weekend and next week it picks up.”
During the March 4, 2014, primary, Sertuche said a total of 5,469 people voted early, about 4,500 of which were Republican voters and nearly 1,000 were Democrats. Numbers jumped slightly in 2016 due to it being the Presidential Election, she said, with a total of 8,243 early voters. About 7,300 of those were Republican and 900 were Democrats.
“It is off to (a slow start) if you compare those numbers,” Sertuche said of early voting totals this year. She added she hoped there would be a large turnout during the weekend and that polls will also be open 12 hours next week.
“I hope they come out and exercise their vote,” she said.
In Person Early Voting Totals:
- Tuesday: 315
- Wednesday: 230
- Thursday: 317
- Friday: 461
Early voting totals for Saturday were not available by press time.
