Early voting turnout

There's no doubt early voter turnout in the April 8 Republican runoff election has been uncharacteristically high.

Close to 3,000 voters in Ector, Winkler and Andrews counties have cast their ballots for either incumbent Buddy West or challenger Tryon Lewis is the runoff for the Republican nomination for the District 81 seat in the State House of Representatives.

The turnout, 2,767 in Ector County when early voting closed Thursday, is right in line with what Elections Administrator Mitzi Scheible predicted. She called for a total turnout of about 5,000 voters.

"Usually what we have for early voting, we have about the same number on election day," she said. "So we're looking at about 5,000 - we're still going to stick to that."

Winkler County has also seen an abnormally high runoff election voter turnout, County Clerk Shethelia Reed said.

"Ours has gone very well," she said early today. "In the past, the most we've ever had was 39, and we've already had 105 so far. For a runoff election, it's very heavy."

Andrews had 120 early votes cast as of Thursday evening.

In the meantime, both campaign camps said they were pleased with the turnout.

"The good news is that voters are paying attention to this race," Mark Sanders, a spokesman for the West campaign, said.

In fact, Sanders said the turnout exceeded expectations.

"It's probably going to end up being about 5,000 voters complete turnout, which is a little higher than we expected," he said. "Our projections were for voter turnout to be 2,500 to 3,000 total. I think this has a high-profile race that has generated a lot of interest.

"Obviously we're always happy when people participate in the process," he said.

Lewis, while expressing pleasure at the turnout, also called for voters to turnout Tuesday for election day.

"Some people had predicted that there would be 2,500 votes total in the runoff," he said. "I felt that was too low. I felt there was more interest than that. I'm pleased we've had more than that number already in early voting.

"I encourage everyone to get out and vote for whoever is their choice," he said. "I hope that's me, but whoever it is, get out and vote."

THE NUMBERS

Nearly 2,900 people have turned out to vote early in the April 8 Republican runoff between Buddy West and Tryon Lewis.

Lewis, a former district judge is challenging West, the incumbent, for the Republican nomination for the District 81 seat.

The winner will face Libertarian Elmo Hockman in November. State representatives serve two-year terms.

Most recently, on Thursday, 577 Republican ballots were cast in Ector and Winkler counties. The following number of ballots were cast at the following locations:

>> 364 at the Election Administration Office.
>> 39 at the Odessa College SportsCenter.
>> 134 at the Presidential Museum.
>> 11 mail in votes to Ector County.
>> 29 at the Winkler County Clerk's Office.
>> 120 total in Andrews since Monday.

There have been a total 2,992 GOP votes cast since Monday in the three counties.

Polls at the Ector County Annex, 1010 E. Eighth St., will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through today.   Polls will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through today at the Presidential Museum, 4919 E. University Blvd., Odessa College's SportsCenter, 201 W. University Blvd., Andrews James Roberts Center, 855 E. Broadway St. and the Winkler County Clerk's Office, 112 N. Poplar St.