Early voting continues this week
By Donnie A. Lucas
Just over 100 county voters showed up in person last week to vote early in the upcoming Texas primary elections, which is about 100 fewer than two years ago during the 2020 primaries.
Election Day is next Tuesday, March 1, but voters from all precincts can still vote early at the Shackelford County Courthouse in either the Democratic or Republican primaries through this Friday, Feb. 25.
The hours for early voting are 8:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. through the Friday deadline. Early voting is also available through the lunch hour this year as well.
Election day polling with be open from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. next Tuesday, March 1, with the usual polling sites open in all four precincts, including the Moran Community Center in Precinct 3, and Rock Hill and precinct barn in Precinct 4, as well as the Courthouse for voting precincts 101, 202, 307, and 406.
All mail ballots must be received back in the clerk’s office by next Tuesday as well.
County and district clerk Cheri Hawkins reported that she has received back ballots through the mail from six voters in the Democratic primary and 51 from Republicans as of Tuesday.
The deadline for applications for early voting by mail was last Friday, Feb. 18 at 4:00 p.m. All mail ballots must be physically received back in the clerk’s office by election day, not just postmarked.
Voters are using new voting machines for this election which print out a paper ballot to be marked, then the voter feeds it back into the machine to be scanned and record the votes.
“Everything has gone smoothly during early voting,” Hawkins said. “People say they like the new voting machines and that they are easy to use.”
All voters should present their new blue voter ID cards, as well as photo IDs when arriving at the polls. New voter registration cards were sent out at the beginning of January. Voters can receive a ballot without their voter ID cards, but they must present a governmental picture ID to verify who they are.
Mail ballots have a new requirement this year, making it mandatory for those voters to write in their driver’s license numbers or the last four digits of their Social Security numbers on the inside the flap of the return or carrier envelope before it is sealed and returned. There is also an area on the return envelope that the voter must sign.
The state legislature made several changes to voting procedures that went into effect this year to help assure accurate results.
The lone contested race in Shackelford County is for county judge, with Raleigh Breeden and John Viertel both running on the Republican Primary Ballot.
Incumbents who have filed for another four years on the Republican primary ballot are County/District Clerk Cheri Hawkins, County Treasurer Tammy Brown, Justice of the Peace James Breeden, Precinct 2 Commissioner Ace Reames, and Precinct 4 Commissioner Cody Jordan.
Rodney Casey will also be on the ballot running for Republican Party Chairman.
No candidates filed for the Democratic Primary.
