Election moving forward despite controversy
Van Zandt County will see its political runoff races come to an end on May 22, with the Republican Primary runoff election of VZC Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace and VZC District Judge along with the United States House of Representatives District 5 race.
In the Democratic Primary runoff race for governor, Lupe Valdez will face off against Andrew White.
Early voting for all runoff races will begin Monday, May 14 and run through May 18, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s office. Election Day for the runoff races is May 22.
All early voting in VZC will be held in the Old Canton City Hall location in downtown Canton at 290 East Tyler St., according to VZC Chief Election Deputy Elsa Smith.
See polling places for the May 22 Runoff Election and sample ballots on pages 6-7A.
In a runoff election, the two candidates with the highest number of votes in the March 6 primary will face off in the Tuesday, May 22 election. To avoid a runoff, a candidate had to have more than 50 percent of the votes in the March 6 primary.
Numbers from the March 2018 Primary Election VZC District Judges’ race cast Chris Martin with 3,451 votes (40.05 percent) and Tina Brumbelow with 2,609 (30.28 percent) forcing a runoff election to be held.
In the VZC Justice of the Peace Pct. 2 race, Sandra Plaster had 901 votes (38.08 percent) with Sue Baugh earning 731 votes (30.90 percent.)
VZC Republican Chairman Lance Lenz remarked that despite recent controversy in the VZC District Judges’ race, there would be “no changes on the ballot.”
Lenz said that amid the controversy of whether Brumbelow was eligible for election due to an effective date of voter registration and Martin’s letter of intent for office given to current VZC District Judge Teresa Drum marked Nov, 6, 2017, Lenz was still “proceeding forward and letting the voters decide.”
Lenz, who is in his 26th year as the VZC Republican Chairman, said he had spoken to the Texas Secretary of State’s office and said that military ballots had already been sent out, with both Martin and Brumbelow on the ballot. Lenz also said that the Texas SOS office had ruled that questions concerning the candidates’ eligibility should have been brought up at the time they filed for office that there would be no changes on the ballot.
Early Voting Information
There will only be one week of Early Voting which begins Monday, May 14 and concludes Friday, May 18.
Early voting hours will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, May 14; Tuesday, May 15; Thursday, May 17 and Friday, May 18. Early voting will not include a Saturday
Extended hours for Early Voting will be available from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 16.
Smith said that if a person voted in the March 6 Republican or Democratic Primary Election, that person can only vote in the same party’s May 22 runoff election.
For example, if a person voted in the Republican Primary March 6, that person could only vote in the May 22 Republican runoff election, however, if a person did not vote at all in the March 6 primary, that person can vote in either the Republican or Democratic runoff election, according to Smith.
