A couple of veteran Fort Bend County officials are expressing concern over the low early voter turnout among Katy voters for the May 29 Republican primary.
Both Pct. 3 County Commissioner Andy Meyers and Sheriff Milton Wright said the low vote total could jeopardize local influence in several hotly-contested races, including district judge, state board of education and county sheriff.
Meyers, who is seeking re-election unopposed, says the court-ordered change in primary election date and it being so close to the city/school board elections seems to have confused many voters.
As a result, Katy precincts are voting substantially lower in the early phase than in the past.
Meyers urged Katy area residents who do not take advantage of early voting to make a special effort to cast their ballot on May 29.
“We know of the political turmoil that has created a disruption in the normal election process this year. It is unfortunate that the primary is scheduled on the day after the Memorial Day holiday,” Meyers said. “These races will affect the daily lives of our citizens. I really hope that Katy citizens will go to the polls and play a decisive role in such important decisions.”
Wright said he was particularly concerned about how an unusually low voter turnout could impact the sheriff’s race.
Wright, who will be retiring after 16 years as Fort Bend County’s top law enforcement officer, has strongly endorsed Chief Deputy Craig Brady as the person best suited to succeed him. Wright called Brady the “best qualified to build upon the successes of the past 16 years based upon Craig’s distinguished career as a law enforcement officer and his extraordinary leadership at the Fort Bend Sheriff’s Office.”
Early voting will continue in the Katy area through Friday, May 25 at the Cinco Ranch Library. Early voting is from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
Election day is Tuesday, May 29.
“Strongly endorsed” is an understatement. The current but retiring sheriff also went on Troy Nehl’s Facebook page and accused him of destroying his own political billboard. (Well, OK, someone went on Facebook FOR him and made the post!) I guess he felt that would best “endorse” Brady – I heard that he’s spent 400K or more on this election? Can that be true?
This is a really poorly researched piece of journalism. First of all, yes the turn-out in Democratic primary is dismal, mainly because there are not many contested races there. Turn-out in the Republican primary, on the other hand, in on a pace to exceed 2008 (and obviously far exceed 2010, an off year) and set a new county record. As of the end of Tuesday, there were 10,943 in-person early votes and 2804 mail-in ballots received by the elections office, for a total of 12,747. For comparison, in 2008 the early and mail-in vote was about 16,660, total. Thus, if the current pace continues (about 1,500 votes a day), it is very likely that the early vote in 2012 will exceed the early vote in 2008, especially as the last early voting day is usually quite busy. I think Friday could see 2000 early votes.
Secondly, the underlying intent to promote Brady is poorly disguised. There are a number of hotly contested and relevant elections one could have mentioned (how about our next U.S. Senator from Texas, for example?); and even if one just had to mention the sheriff’s election, there are 4 candidates, one of which is Troy Nehls, endorsed by John Healey, the Fort Bend District Attorney (who will need to work with the next sheriff).
Didn’t Nehls get endorsed by several civic/police groups and Brady didn’t get any?
I just looked up the numbers again, and then realized I had a math error in my first post–I had undercounted! As of the end of Wednesday, total Republican primary votes received add up to 15,295 (2,886 mail-in and 12,409 in-person). We will find out after next week where the votes originate from, but one thing is clear: we easily will have an early voting record turnout for the Republican primary, and I would bet that Katy area residents are represented just like past years. It really makes me think that this article is just an excuse to provide cover for Commissioner Meyers to pump up Brady.
So I have some creative ideas for future articles for Mr. Meyers (you know, so he can disguise more endorsements): “It’s May and it’s hot outside, so Katy residens should get out and vote xxx for sheriff.” Or how about this one: “Today is a day that ends with the letter Y, so Katy residends shoud go vote xxx for sheriff.” Or how about this one: “Andy Meyers says to be sure to vote early xxx for sheriff before the Mayan calendar ends.”