Primary drives changes in El Paso voting behavior
El Paso has a voting problem – people just don’t vote. And now that the presidential nomination process seems to be winding down with two different controversial candidates at the forefront, there’s concern that people just won’t turn out come November.
Numbers from the county elections department paint an interesting picture for voter behavior this time around so far. Presidential election years typically draw more voters overall, and the peculiar nature of this campaign is driving voters to some different behavior.
There were 9,514 voters in the March primary who had not voted since 2007, or had never voted before. There was a total of 862 people who switched from Republican to Democrat combined from 2012 to 2014. But there were 7,823 in total who voted Republican instead of Democrat in the latest primary.
Hillary Clinton won handily locally. But for the Republicans, the primary happened while the nomination race was in full swing, with a crowded field still being whittled down. Donald Trump, now the presumptive Republican nominee, came in third locally, behind Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
Keeping up interest and votes will be something the local GOP will have to tackle.
“Trump’s got some – he’s got some obstacles he’s going to have to deal with,” said Adolpho Telles, chairman of the Republican Party in El Paso. “It’s amazing what he’s done so far. I thought he would have been dropped several times, and he continues to be successful. And so I’ve got confidence he’ll figure out how to deal with those issues.”
Early voting for the primary runoff election in El Paso begins Monday. The last day to cast your ballot for early voting is Friday. On the ballot are runoffs for district attorney, county tax assessor-collector and court of appeals justices. For more information, you can visit the county election’s website.
