If normal statistical rules apply, except perhaps in the Texas U.S. Senate race which is neck to neck, most of the races in local government and the Brownsville Independent School District have already been decided by the early Blue Wave Vote.
Historically, the early vote has hovered above 50 percent, but closer to 60 or more.
The BISD race, which is nonpartisan, has nonetheless been affected by the surge in local voting. That election has drawn 19,650 early votes. The reason there goes beyond the Betomania surge, but can also be ascribed to the large number of candidates (12) vying for three seats.
In 2016, a presidential year, 35,693 voters cast ballots in the BISD race. This mid-term year could approach 30,000. In the Position 1 race, with five candidates vying for a majority vote, a candidate that draws a little over 6,000 could well take it.
Compared to the 2014 midterm elections, this year has more than doubled the early vote. In 2014, there were 40,439 votes cast in Cameron County, and 20,733 were cast early.
At the end of the 11-day voting period ending Friday, the number of early votes was 50,916, 10,477 than the 40,439 total vote (early and election day) cast in 2014. If we add in another 25,000, on election day on Tuesday, it will approach 76,000 total votes this year.
Now, that doesn't approach the November 2016 presidential-year total of 93,716 votes cast in this county then. That year, 61,481 votes were cast early, about 57.6 percent.
Nonetheless, every candidate in these races knows that every vote – specially in the BISD race – is crucial. They've put out their name to serve, and now it's up to us to determine who will. Don't take that right in vain.
3 comments:
Donald Trump said it, so it must be true.
Moreover, Texas has all but banned voter-registration drives, which is how many low-income and minority voters are registered, through laws that bar anyone but a deputy voter registrar in a particular county from registering voters in that county; if they tried to register a voter in another county, even they would be breaking the law. From trying to register to casting a ballot, it is hard to vote in Texas, maybe harder than in any other state.
That’s by design. Although Republican dominance of Texas long predates these new voting restrictions, their implementation is part of a national GOP strategy of maintaining political control through scorched-earth culture-war campaigns that target historically disfavored minorities and the targeted disenfranchisement of the populations whose growth and influence could challenge that control. It is a consciously counter-majoritarian strategy for a party that wants to maintain its power indefinitely.
juan i think the folks have had enuff of the elected officials and are really trying hard to make a statement, i hope that is true on election day, Go Beto
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