Election May Be Decided By Small Number Of El Pasoans

EL PASO, TX. – It’s ElectionDay once again and a small number of El Pasoans may hold the key to several offices. In the last 20 years, no mayor has ever won re-election when forced into a runoff.

This year however, Mayor Wardy had a 12% advantage over challenger John Cook in the May 7th voting.Mr. Cook told the El Paso Times he is the man to beat because the incumbent has not won a runoff election in two decades.

Mayor Wardy’s camp says his general election numbers put him 4% away from clinching the election. However, do past numbers predict future performance?ABC-7 spoke to UTEP Political Science Professor William Mack, who says every election is unique and just because no mayor has won a runoff doesn’t mean cook will win..

Professor Mack tells ABC-7 that, “he (Wardy)doesn’t need a huge percentage. I think he’d prefer to have the turnout be right around where it is. He doesn’t want a huge turnout. I think a huge turnout would probably favor Mr. Cook.”

40,401 El Pasoans voted in the City Election on May 7th, which is about 10,000 less voters than the Mayoral Election in 2003.