ABC-7 XTRA: Historically low voter turnout for mayoral runoff election

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The 2024 runoff election for El Paso Mayor saw the lowest voter turnout, based on the percentage of eligible voters, in the last 20 years.

This year, Renard Johnson won the race with 56% of the vote, while his opponent Brian Kennedy received 44%.

That's a margin of 12%, or 4,267 votes.

In total, just over 35,000 people out of the nearly 427,000 eligible voters cast a vote for mayor in the 2024 runoff, equating to an 8.2% participation rate.

In 2020, 13.2% of eligible voters participated in the runoff that elected Oscar Leeser to his second term.

Back in 2017, 8.6% cast a ballot in the runoff when Dee Margo was elected.

2013 saw a 13.9% turnout rate to spark Oscar Leeser's first term as mayor.

The 2009 mayoral election did not feature a runoff, when John Cook was elected to a second term.

Back in 2005, Cook won the office in a runoff where 13.3% of voters participated.

To recap, the lowest turnout rates were 2017 (8.6%), and this year, 2024 (8.2%).

The turnout has remained low even though over the past twenty years, the number of registered voters in the city of El Paso has increased by more than 100,000