Early voting underway in El Paso: What you need to know
EL PASO, Texas -- Early voting for the Texas primary began on Monday and there are several big races.
The most notable is the race for governor.
"This is going to be a fairly expensive and expansive campaign," said Dr. Richard Pineda, director of the Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies at UTEP.
Incumbent Greg Abbott and former El Paso Democratic Representative Beto O'Rourke are drawing national attention. Both heavily-favored to win their respective party's nomination.
Another big race, the state representative race for District 79, impacted by redistricting. This district now includes portions of the east side and the northeast.
Incumbent Art Fierro and former District 76 representative, Claudia Ordaz-Perez are asking for your vote. This will effectively decide who the state representative will be since there is no republican challenger.
There are also judicial, state rep, and county commissioner races on the ballot, some with and without challengers.
Despite several notable race, historically voter turnout is low in El Paso County for a non-presidential election which is something Dr. Pineda said will likely happen this year as well.
"I think this is going to be a big fight for a very small number of voters," Dr. Pineda said. "You're already really trying to narrow that down to active voters."
However, Pineda said it's still important to vote as he believes the primary election will set the tone for the general election in November.
"Since we have a fairly heavy democratic leaning county, it means that that the real action is going to be in those those primary races," he said.
Dr. pineda also said if you're not familiar with a specific candidate or race it doesn't make sense to roll the dice and pick someone adding that it's important to look at a sample ballot before you head to the polls.
There are more than 30 different polling sites to choose from during early voting which runs until February 25. For a list of locations, click here. The last day to apply for a mail-in ballot is February 18.
To look at your sample ballot, click here.
