In yet another attempt to mislead voters, Ronnie Lewis has taken to the pages of this newspaper to once again spout “facts” to which he can provide no proof. Once again, I will refute his baseless and misleading claims with cold hard facts that anyone – with a quick trip or call to the Ector County Elections office – can easily verify.
Lewis claims that current Republican Party Precinct Chairs have not done their job in increasing Republican voter turnout by getting out the vote.
Lewis points to the 2022 Gubernatorial race as evidence stating that only 30.68% of registered voters voted in this election. This is true but it’s also misleading. This 30.68% includes all registered voters – Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Green Party, etc. etc.
Of the 25,623 voters that did vote in the 2020 gubernatorial general election, 19,212 of them were Republicans. Ronnie says that this is considerably less than what voted in 2018.
In the 2018 Gubernatorial general election, there were a total of 30,963 votes cast out of the 76,505 total registered voters. Yep… The total votes dropped from 2018 to 2022 in the Gubernatorial elections. But what about the Republican vote turnout? Well…. In 2018 the total Republican vote count was 12,596.
Hold on a sec. What was that? The Republican vote in 2018 was 12,596 and in 2022 it was 19,212. For those of you without a calculator handy that’s an increase in Republican voter turnout of 52.52%! Again, don’t take my word for it, call the Ector County Elections office and verify these numbers.
You see, the facts are that the Ector County Republican Party under the leadership of County Chair Tisha Crow has worked really hard to increase Republican votes and works even harder to get Republicans elected. It seems to be obvious to everyone but Ronnie that the local Republican party doesn’t work to get Democrat, Libertarian, Green Party or any other group to turn out.
Ok, so what about the Presidential election year turnout. While the Governor’s race is important, we all know that the Presidential election is the Superbowl of politics.
For Presidential years here are the numbers for Republican voter turnout:
2012: 14,384 2016: 17,092 (an increase of 18.8%) 2020: 32,697 (an incredible increase of 91% or almost 2X)
Looking at the cumulative total from 2012 to 2020 (the Presidential elections that have occurred under the leadership of Ector County Republican Party Chair Tisha Crow) that would be a 127% increase in voter turnout.
Let me state that again: a 127% increase or over 2.27 times as many Republican voters voted in 2020 vs. 2012. Sure, our population has grown but we all know we don’t have 2.27 times the number of registered Republican voters now than we had in 2012.
Looks to me, when you look at the actual facts, that the current Precinct Chairs under the direction of a truly hard-working County Chair were indeed doing their duties. Matter of fact it wouldn’t be unreasonable to call them “over achievers”.
Dear Ector County voters, I implore you not to buy into the unfounded lies and misinformation that Lewis spouts almost every day from the pages of this newspaper but to get the facts for yourself. Don’t take my word for these facts – call the Ector County Elections office yourself at 432-498-4030. Tell them that you would like copies of every general election from 2010 to current and do your own homework.
So, now the question that must be asked is why Lewis would be willing to return time and time again to the pages of this newspaper with false and misleading claims and why this newspaper would be willing to time and again print his misleading and spurious claims and even pin them to the top of the OA’s Facebook feed.
Why indeed?
Could it be that despite his claims of wanting to grow the Republican turnout Lewis wants to destroy the incredible progress that the Party has made under the leadership of Tisha Crow?
Could it be that Lewis would like to go back to the old days when the voters of District 2 – commonly referred to as the Country Club crowd – were able to control local politics as they turned out to vote in much higher numbers than any other district?
Could it be that what Ronnie and his allies are really upset about is the fact that Tisha and her band of hard-working Precinct Chairs have sparked what could only be described as a tidal wave of voter engagement that has voters in every area of Ector County turning out to vote to the point that it has upset the political apple cart of Lewis and his cronies?
We may not know for sure until it’s too late but I implore Ector County voters to look at the facts and continue to support the officially endorsed slate of the Ector County Republican Party and reelect Tisha Crow and the incredibly productive precinct chairs currently serving.
Kris Crow
Odessa
