Voter Turnout Across San Angelo Reported to be 'Huge'

By the end of today’s Mar. 1 Primary Election, expect records to be met or surpassed. That is the assessment of Jeff Betty, Tom Green County Republican Party Chair.

The mark many insiders are looking at is approaching 20,000 votes in both Republican and Democrat primaries locally.

Betty said he has been to almost all polling locations and has witnessed lines everywhere. “I haven’t seen an election like this since 2000 when George W. Bush was running against Al Gore,” Betty said.

“This is the first really big contested election that Texas has a big say in in a long time, maybe in 30 years,” Betty said. When the Republican Party moved the primary date up in Texas to Mar. 4, it allowed Texans to vote before a clear frontrunner was decided.

In 2012, because of a court battle, the Texas Primary Election was moved back to May 29, well after the Republicans had all but anointed Mitt Romney to be the nominee.

When counting both political parties, the last primary to have this much enthusiasm was in 2008 when Tom Green County Democrats came out in large numbers to vote for then-Senator Barrack Obama. Then, 19.238 voted in both Democrat and Republican Primaries. But in less contested years, generally about 10,000 Republicans and Democrats vote.

Bernie Sanders, the Democrat, and Republican Donald Trump have hyped excitement locally this year, Betty theorizes.

At the Tom Green County Election Office, they reported that about 6,700 people voted early or by mail. As of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, an additional 7,400 had cast a ballot in person today. That totals 14,100 votes cast cumulative for both Republicans and Democrats midway until the polls close at 7 p.m.

Insiders of the Brad Goodwin for 391^st Judge campaign who spoke on a condition of anonymity said that Goodwin’s campaign is expecting to tie the south side and make up the difference in Lake View where they view opponent Carmen Dusek as having soft support. Insiders at the Dusek campaign said that they are expecting the higher-than-normal turnout across the entire town to help their path to victory.

Betty said that in the presidential race, San Angeloans are holding their cards close to their chest. He does have an anecdotal measuring stick as to who has the most vocal supporters, and Ted Cruz is winning it. “Our office gave away Ted Cruz campaign signs and stickers at a rate of three-to-one over all other presidential candidates,” he said. Ben Carson was second and Marco Rubio had occasional interest. Trump didn’t garner much interest at Republican Party Headquarters. Betty said he gave away maybe eight Trump yard signs.

“I think the presidential race locally is a stealth campaign this year,” Betty said. He surmised that Trump is a big factor in the turnout also.

The polls close at 7 p.m. Anyone with a valid ID who is registered to vote can vote at any of the polling places on this *pdf.