Runoffs for Chief of Police and City Council Early Voting Extended Nine Days

A press release today announced that early voting in the July 2 runoff election for Police Chief and the City Council’s District 5 seat has been extended nine days to include a Saturday and a Sunday.

City Council officially called the runoff election date for Saturday, July 2.

Early voting will be:

• June 20-24, from 8 a.m.to 5 p.m.,
• Saturday, June 25, from 7 a.m.to 7 p.m.
• June 27-28 from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

All early voting will be held in the Tom Green County Elections Office. Paper or electronic ballots will be available during the early voting dates.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. July 2 at 20 locations throughout Tom Green County. Only electronic ballots will be available on Election Day.

“The addition of two days of early voting are meant to ensure voters who will be unavailable on the July Fourth holiday weekend [will] have every opportunity to participate in the runoff election,” said City Clerk Bryan Kendrick, the City of San Angelo’s elections officer. “In fact, the hours of voting on Saturday, June 25, will be the same as on Saturday, July 2.”

State law required the City Council to call the election on July 2. Federal regulations and state election law mandate a 45-day window between the canvassing of votes, which occurred this morning, and a runoff to allow ballots to be mailed to registered voters who are outside the United States.

In San Angelo, the regulation protects the voting rights of 211 local military members who are serving overseas. State law also requires that runoff elections occur within 20-45 days of the canvassing of the vote. Together, those regulations provided make only one possible election date, July 2.

In the May 7 election, none of the candidates received more than 50 percent of the vote in the races for Police Chief or for District 5 City Council member. Frank Carter and Tim Vasquez are running for police chief. Lane Carter and Elizabeth Grindstaff are vying for the District 5 seat. In a drawing after today’s City Council meeting, the order of names on the runoff ballot was established:

• Police Chief:

Tim Vasquez

Frank Carter

• District 5:

Elizabeth Grindstaff

Lane Carter

The two winners in the election, Bill Richardson in City Council District 1 and Harry Thomas in District 3, took their oaths of office and began their three-year terms today.

The deadline to register to vote in the runoff election is June 2. All registered voters will be eligible to vote in the runoff regardless of whether they participated in the May 7 election. Voter registration applications are available at VoteTomGreenCounty.org, in the Tom Green County Elections Office on the first floor of the Edd B. Keyes Building, 113 W. Beauregard Ave., or at all three Tom Green County library locations. Applications can also be obtained by mail or by calling 325-659-6541. Completed applications can be returned in person or by mail; mailed applications must be postmarked by June 2. Citizens can also register to vote when renewing their driver’s license in person at a Texas Department of Public Safety office. To determine if you’re eligible to vote, or if you’re already registered, visit votetexas.gov/register-to-vote. Voter registration applications are also available at the link.

All registered city voters will be eligible to vote for police chief, which is a citywide office. Only voters in City Council District 5 will vote in that race. Voters can access a map of the City Council districts at cosatx.us/council. Voters can also determine which Council district they live in by clicking the GIS map viewer on the same page.