Early voting for primary runoff starts

FLASH STAFF REPORT

ERATH COUNTY (May 16, 2016) – Early voting for the May 24 primary runoff starts Monday and will run all week. Here’s a rundown of the news you need to know:

• What’s on the ballot —

Statewide: Republican voters will decide two nominees for the state’s highest criminal court, the Court of Criminal Appeals and for the Railroad Commission (regulates Texas oil and gas drilling). Democrats will decide a nominee for the Railroad Commission (will go against the Republican nominee in November election).

County offices: Voters will not see any local runoffs as none were close enough to warrant runoff elections.

• About primary voting —

What’s a primary? Primaries are for the political parties to nominate candidates to be on the fall ballot. Runoffs are required when no candidate in a race gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the March 1 primary.

Can you vote? If you voted in a party’s primary, you can vote in that party’s runoffs. If you did not vote in the primaries, you can vote in either runoff. But you cannot cross over in the runoffs; if you voted in the Republican primary, you can’t vote in the Democratic runoff and vice versa. How and whether you vote in a primary and runoff has no bearing on your vote in the fall general election.

• Voting tips —

Registration: The deadline to register to vote has already passed and everyone must be registered to vote.

Valid IDs: All voters must have one form of valid Texas ID with them to vote. Those include: a Texas driver’s license, a U.S. passport, a state-issued ID card, a state-issued election certificate, a Texas concealed handgun license, a U.S. military ID or a citizenship certificate with a photograph issued by the federal government.

Official results of the Erath County Primary election held earlier this month from the State of Texas.

Official results of the Hamilton County Primary election held earlier this month from the State of Texas.

Official results of the Bosque County Primary election held earlier this month from the State of Texas.

• Where you can vote early —

According to Erath County Election officials, early voting will be from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Courthouse (100 W. Washington Street in Stephenville) from Monday, May 16 through Friday, May 20. Election Day voting locations include the courthouse in Stephenville and the Dublin Annex (219 S. Grafton in Dublin), as well as Texas Bank (988 Wolfe Nursery Rd.) and CenturyLink Office (1505 W Frey Street) in Stephenville. Those locations will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 24.