Contest Too Late To Factor In Presidential Race
The Presidential primary season is winding down, but Texans still have more than a month before they go to the polls. With both parties now appearing set on their nominees, officials across the Lone Star State are worried about a low turnout for the May 29th primary.
Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart tells KTRH the competitive GOP U.S. Senate race will likely draw more Republicans than Democrats to the polls.
He predicts about 150,000 Republicans and 100,000 Democrats will show up in Harris County. That's a huge decline from the more than 400,000 Dems who cast ballots in the '08 primary between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Still, Stanart says voter participation is surging on one area.
"I do think we're going to have a record number of ballot by mail requests." He notes that the vast majority of those who vote by mail are either elderly or disabled, but they are among the most loyal voters.
Still, Stanart says it's always difficult to predict voter turnout in Presidential election years like this.
"There's nothing average about a Presidential. It's the Super Bowl of politics every four years." Unfortunately for Texans, the first phase of the game has already been decided.
