County early vote tops 50 percent

Burnet County voters top 50 percent

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

Just how far numbers will rise today, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016 General Election Day, remains to be seen, but so far early voters are breaking records.

“It wouldn’t take much of a record election day to push us to 80 percent turnout overall,” said Elections Administrator Doug Ferguson.

Burnet County citizens flocked to early voting polls, which closed at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4, with a record 47 percent of registered voters, 13,885 of them, having voted early in person.

Another 1,686 ballots by mail had been received in the Burnet County Elections Office Monday morning, Nov. 7. That means 15,571 of the county's 29,556 voters had cast early ballots, or 52.68 percent of them.

“Our military mail ballots are coming right in too,” said Karen Peraino of the elections office.

Ballots sent to voters by mail must arrive back in the office by today, General Election Day, Nov. 8, to be counted. Up until today, they had to arrive by mail, but they can be personally delivered on election day if they are in the hands of the election office by 7 p.m.

The Texas Secretary of State has been tracking 15 of the most populous counties and numbers there have been almost on a par with Burnet County, an average of 46.8 percent, including the 56.24 percent of 536,915 voters registered in Collin County. In Harris County, with 2,234,678, registered voters, 43.73 voted early.

Texas polls opened at 7 a.m. this morning and will remain open until 7 p.m.

Although the presidential election undoubtedly is driving voter turnout, it is not the only decision before Burnet County voters.

Seeking Troy Fraser's Dist. 24 Senate seat are Lakeway Republican ® Dawn Buckingham and Llano Democrat (D) Virginia "Jennie Lou" Leeder

Other contested races include:

• Justice, Supreme Court, Place 3: (R) Debra Lehrmann, (D) Mike Westergren, (L) Kathie Glass or (G) Rodolfo Rivera Munoz.

• Justice, Supreme Court, Place 5: (R) Paul Green, (D) Tom Oxford, (L) Tom Oxford or (G) Charles E. Waterbury.

• Justice, Supreme Court, Place 9: (R) Eva Guzman, (D) Savannah Robinson, (L) Don Fulton or (G) Jim Chisholm.

• Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 5: Republican Scott Walker; Democrat Betsy Johnson; Libertarian William Bryan Strange, III; Green Party Candidate Judith Sanders-Castro.

• Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 6: Republican Michael E. Keasler; Democrat Robert Burns, Libertarian Mark W. Bennett.

• Railroad Commissioner: (R) Wayne Christian; (D) Grady Yarbrough; Libertarian (L) Mark Miller, or Green Party Candidate (G) Martina Salinas.

• State Board of Education, District 10: Republican Tom Maynard or Democrat Judy Jennings.

• In Horseshoe Bay, voters can cast a ballot for up to three city council candidates: Craig Haydon,

• Jerry Gray, Kent Graham, Frank Gracely, Jr. or Dennis Hoover.

• In Granite Shoals, voters will say “yes” or “no” to a $3 million street bond option and to an ordinance to prohibit the feeding of deer.

• In Marble Falls, eight propositions for amendments to the City Charter are on the ballot. The web address for complete details is www.MarbleFallsTx.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/3484, or take this shortcut: www.bit.ly/2efQBUY.

If you are responding to the call to vote for the first time, or the first time in a long time, election judges can help you with voting machines, but you also can take the voting machine out for a test drive first. Under the elections tab on the county website, www.burnetcountytexas.org, a click on the image of the voting machine will take you to an interactive e-slate.

That is just one of many accommodations Ferguson and his staff have made for the landslide of local voters. The website is filled with information such as polling places and sample ballots. A personal voice message from Ferguson greets callers at 512-715-5288, with answers to the most common questions.

The Secretary of State website, www.VoteTexas.gov, also offers essentials for latecomer registered voters.

Your voter registration card confirms the county in which you are registered and includes your voting precinct number (in the block below your gender on the card).

Burnet County Election Day polling places are:

Pct 1 – First Lutheran Church, 133 Apollo Drive, Burnet

Pct 2 – Main Burnet County Courthouse, 220 South Pierce, Burnet

Pct 3 – Grace United Methodist Church, 4007 Valley View Lane, Granite Shoals

Pct 4 – Spicewood Community Center, 7901 County Road 404, Spicewood

Pct 5 – Silver Creek Community Center, 101 County Road 128, Burnet

Pct 6 – Smithwick Community Center, 10800 East Ranch to Market Road 1431, Marble Falls

Pct 7 – Cassie Subdivision Community Center, 3920 Farm to Market Road 690, Burnet

Pct 8 – Hoover Valley Volunteer Fire Department, 303 County Road 118B, Burnet

Pct 9 – Highland Haven Community Center, 118 Blackbird Drive, Highland Haven

Pct 10 – Iglesia Bautista Church Hall, (County Road 330 and Farm to Market Road 243), 4000 West Farm to Market Road 243, Bertram

Pct 11 – Naruna Church Building, 9170 Farm to Market Road 1478, Lampasas

Pct 12 – Bertram Library, 170 North Gabriel Street, Bertram

Pct 13 – Joppa Fellowship Hall, 8447 County Road 210, Bertram

Pct 14 – Lake Victor Community Center, 200 Lake Avenue, Burnet

Pct 15 – Briggs Community Center, 215 Loop 308, Briggs

Pct 16 – Oakalla Community Center, 29011 Farm to Market Road 963, Oakalla

Pct 17 – Burnet County Courthouse North Annex, 1701 East Polk Street, Burnet

Pct 18 – Granite Shoals Fire Station, 8410 Ranch to Market Road 1431 West, Granite Shoals

Pct 19 – Marble Falls Courthouse Annex, 810 Steve Hawkins Parkway, Marble Falls

Pct 20 – Marble Falls Church of Christ, 711 Broadway Street, Marble Falls

Llano County

Llano County Elections Administrator Cindy Ware was traveling to voting precincts Monday morning to prepare for voters, but her report was that Llano County voters already are nearing the 50 percent mark as well.

The cumulative early vote number Friday of 7,339, included 1,152 ballots by mail.

Many of those voting on Horseshoe Bay City Council seats are Llano County residents and state judicial, board and commission elections coincide with Burnet County. However, other state races they are considering vary.

Incumbent Dist. 11 U.S. Representative (R) Mike Conaway is challenged by (D) Nicholas Landholt

Incumbent Dist. 53 State Representative (R) Andrew S. Murr is opposed by (D) Stephanie Lochte Ertel and (L) Brian Holk.

Llano County Election Day polling places are:

Pct 101 – South Llano, Llano Ag & Health Building, 1447 Texas 71 East

Pct 102 – Blue Lake, Blue Lake Community Center, 214 West Bluebonnet Drive, Blue Lake

Pct 108 – Sunrise Beach, City Hall Civic Center Complex, 124 Sunrise Drive, Sunrise Beach Village

Pct 109 – Horseshoe Bay, Horseshoe Bay City Office, #1 Community Drive, Horseshoe Bay

Pct 203 – Buchanan Dam, Eastern Llano County Annex Building, 8347 Ranch to Market Road 1431 West, Buchanan Dam

Pct 204 – Bluffton, Lakeshore Branch Library, 7346 Texas 261, Buchanan Dam

Pct 205 – Tow, First Baptist Church 16529 Ranch to Market Road 2241, Tow

Pct 307 – Kingsland, Kingsland Public Library, 125 West Polk Street, Kingsland

Pct 410 – West Llano, Llano County Library, 102 East Haynie Street, Llano