Early Voting Increases
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Early voting in the March 6 Texas primary election ends this Friday, March 2.
Through Tuesday, 5,654 Comal County residents had cast ballots in advance of Election Day, running ahead of the number and percentage of registered voters who turned out in the 2014 midterm elections. Roughly six percent of the county’s 95,353 registered voters have a cast a ballot thus far.
“As always, we are so grateful for the commitment of our voters to participate in our elections,” says Comal County Elections Coordinator Cynthia Jaqua. “We also appreciate their patience as we work to make voting as smooth and simple a process as possible.”
Republicans alone have contested primaries for Comal County Precinct 4 commissioner, criminal district attorney and precincts 2 and 3 justices of the peace; U.S. House District 35; state agriculture commissioner; Texas House District 73; two seats on the Court of Criminal Appeals; and a seat on the state’s 3rd Court of Appeals.
Democrats alone have a contested primary for state comptroller.
Both parties have contested primaries for U.S. Senate and House District 21, and Texas governor, lieutenant governor, land commissioner, railroad commissioner and Senate District 25.
In the event no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in any of the March 6 races, a primary runoff will take place May 22, for which the voter registration deadline will be April 23 and early voting will run May 14-18.
Registered voters can choose between voting in either the Republican or the Democratic primaries when they arrive at the polling places. Voters cannot participate in both primaries.
Polling Locations
Here’s where to vote:
Except where noted below, polling places will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, Feb. 20-23; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25; and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday, Feb. 26 to March 2.
- Comal County Elections Center, 396 N. Seguin Ave., New Braunfels
- Comal County Goodwin Annex, 1297 Church Hill Drive, New Braunfels
- Comal County Bulverde Annex, 30470 Cougar Bend
- Mountain Valley Middle School, 1165 Sattler Road, Canyon Lake
- Garden Ridge City Hall, 9400 Municipal Parkway, where the polling place will close at 4 p.m. on Feb. 20, Feb. 22 and Feb. 27.
Comal County Elections
To see a sample ballot for Comal County voters, visit the county elections website by clicking here
Any of the Precinct 2 ballots should contain all races, including that Justice of the Peace race. Any of the Precinct 4 ballots should contain all the races, including commissioner.
Candidates
Running unopposed in the Republican primary are Comal County Judge Sherman Krause, District Clerk Heather N. Kellar, and Treasurer Renee L. Couch.
Incumbent Comal County Commissioner, Precinct 4 Jen Crownover, Republican, squares off against two other incumbent Republican candidates. They are Jeanne Slupik and G. Ted Ballard.
Additionally, three candidates are challenging incumbent Jennifer Tharp for Criminal District Attorney in the Republican primary. They are Deborah Wigington, Joseph Sloane, and Steven de Lemos.
Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2, also is contested in the Republican primary by incumbent Larry Shallcross and challenger James Walker.
In the Democratic primary, candidates for county offices are Gloria Meehan for County Clerk and Dorothy Carroll for Comal County Commissioner, Precinct 4.
Incumbent County Clerk Bobbie Koepp, Republican, is alone on the ticket. Challenger Gloria Meehan appears on the Democratic ticket.
Who Will Represent Comal County?
All 36 U.S. representatives, one U.S. senator, 15 state senators and all state representatives are up for re-election. The governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general also face challengers.
Texas U.S. Representatives
Congressional District 21 – Republican Congressman Lamar Smith announced earlier he is not seeking reelection. New Republican contenders are Jason Isaac, Susan Narvaiz, Eric Burkhart, Samuel Temple, William Negley, Ivan Arturo Andarza, Robert Stovall, Al Poteet, Foster Hagen and Matt McCall. Democratic candidates are Derrick Crowe, Mary Street Wilson and Joseph Kopser.
Congressional District 35 – Incumbent Lloyd Doggett faces no opposition in the Democratic primary. Republicans seeking office are David Smalling and Sherrill Alexander.
Texas State Senator
Texas State Senate District 25 – Incumbent Republican Donna Campbell faces Republican Shannon McClendon. Democrats facing off are Jack Guerra and Steven Kling.
Texas State Representative
Texas State House District 73 – Incumbent Kyle Biederman, Republican, faces challenger Dave Campbell, Republican. In the Democratic primary, Stephanie Phillips is unopposed.
About the 2018 Primary
The upcoming Texas primary is an extremely important election in Texas!
Make your plans now to early vote! It is easy!
Who is on the ballot? Check out the League’s Voters Guide:
https://my.lwv.org/texas/voters-guide
http://www.vote411.org/
From LWV-CA: “Voters in the Texas primaries and conventions choose who will run for office in the General Election. For many communities in Texas, their elected officials are chosen in the primary election because many districts heavily favor one party over the other.
The Republican and Democratic Parties choose their candidates in a primary election. The Libertarian and Green Parties choose their candidates in party conventions.
Texas has open primaries. That means that ALL Texas voters can participate in one of these events.Voters who don’t strongly identify with any political party can and should carefully consider the choices and participate in one of the primaries or conventions.
But you can only participate in one. Once a voter has voted in one party, that voter cannot participate in another party’s election or convention.
The League encourages all registered voters to participate in the Texas Primary Election and vote for the best candidates.
And don’t forget, voting in a primary does not commit you to vote for a particular candidate in the general election.”
To create a personalized voter’s guide, click here.
