Runoff early voting to start

By PAUL STONE
The Palestine Herald

March 27, 2008 01:40 am

— Early voting in the April 8 party primary runoff elections will be held next week at the Anderson County Courthouse Annex.
The five-day early voting period begins Monday and runs through Friday, April 4.
Polls will be open each day at the annex during early voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to Casey Brown, assistant voting registrar for Anderson County.
Both major political parties only have one race on their runoff ballots, Brown pointed out.
The Republican ballot features a runoff for precinct 3 commissioner between incumbent Ronny Smith of Frankston and Neches’ Kenneth Dickson who emerged as the top two votegetters in a tight three-way race last month which also featured Van Brown of Neches.
The Smith-Dickson victor will ultimately face unopposed Democrat Rush Herrington in the Nov. 4 general election.
Anderson County Democrats will only have a statewide runoff for railroad commissioner, with Mark Thompson of Hamilton facing Dale Henry of Austin.
Thompson got more than 47 percent of the 1.9 million votes cast in last month’s Democratic Primary, falling just shy of winning his party’s nomination without a runoff.
The Democratic nominee meets Republican incumbent Michael Williams in November.
“If you didn’t vote in the (March 4) primary, you’re still eligible to vote in the runoff of the party of your choice,” Brown explained.
Registered voters, however, who did vote in last month’s primary election cannot cross over and vote in the other party’s primary runoff, she further explained.
“If you voted Democrat in the primary, you have to vote Democrat in the runoff,” Brown stated. “Same with the Republicans.”
Election day for the runoff is Tuesday, April 8, with polls open throughout the state from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
In Anderson County on April 8, all voting in the Democratic runoff will take place at the courthouse annex.
Precinct 3 residents, however, eligible to vote in the Republican runoff for Anderson County commissioner will cast their ballot at their usual polling place on April 8, according to Brown.
There are seven voting boxes in precinct 3 — Boxes 13 through 18 and Box 23.
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Paul Stone may be contacted via e-mail at pstone@palestineherald.com