The elections are coming! The elections are coming! That’s right folks, it’s already election season again. While the official primary election day for Texas isn’t until March 6, registered voters don’t have to wait any longer because early voting is already happening.
Tarrant County registered voters can vote early in the primary elections at the Brown Lupton University Union Feb. 26 to March 1, every day between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Residents can vote either in the Democratic or Republican primary election (ooooh the choices).
The state of Texas requires every voter to bring at least one valid form of either Texas or U.S. identification from the following list:
- Texas Driver License issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)
- Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS
- Texas Personal Identification Card issued by DPS
- Texas Handgun License issued by DPS
- United States Military Identification Card containing the person’s photograph
- United States Citizenship Certificate containing the person’s photograph
- United States Passport (book or card)
Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos encouraged voters to make use of the early voting period to ensure they had the time to vote. He also gave a shoutout to the millennial generation.
“I commend all Texans who take responsibility for their civic duty by exercising their right to vote,” Pablos said. “Most importantly, I encourage all Texans to work together to ensure that our youngest generation is instilled with a tradition of voting and encouraged to make their voices heard at the ballot box.”
The primary features several exciting races but just to highlight a few:
- On the federal level:
- Senator Ted Cruz is facing a jammed back Republican primary against Bruce Jacobson, Stefano de Stefano, Mary Miller and Geraldine Sam
- The Democrats have a primary race of their own for the Senate election with Beto O’Rourke, Sema Hernandez and Edward Kimbrough
- Republican Rep. Kay Granger is running unopposed in her primary, as is her Democratic challenger Vanessa Adia
- There are 11 candidates in the Republican primary for the District six representative spot and five in the Democratic primary (I’ll just let you look up all those names on the sample ballot).
- On the state level:
- Governor Greg Abbott has a primary challenger in Barbara Krueger, plus nine Democrats running in their primary for the chance to challenge Abbott in the general
- Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is facing off against fellow Republican Scott Midler, and the Democrats have Michael Cooper and Mike Collier in a showdown on their side
- Democrats Allison Campolo and Beverly Powell are campaigning to run against incumbent State Senator Konni Burton who is running unopposed in her primary
For a full look at the elections and candidates check out the sample ballots below:
The race for the U.S. Senate seat has captured the attention of many Texas residents. As the stage is set for the Republican and Democratic primaries, it seems likely that the midterm election will be between incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democrat Rep. Beto O’Rourke from El Paso, according to a recent poll from the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Tribune. The poll has Cruz favored by 91 percent and O’Rourke by 73 percent.
In the House of Representatives, Texas’ 36 reps are mostly affiliated with the GOP. However, there is potential for a massive shift in the lone-star state’s representation in Congress.
For the first time in 25 years, there is at least one Democrat running in each of Texas’ 36 congressional elections, according to information from the Texas Secretary of State’s office. This could lead to the “blue wave” political junkies keep hinting at but only counting ballots will give us that answer.
All of this exciting primary goodness is just the preview for the Nov. 6 general election though so stay tuned for more!
