Today marks the last day of early voting in the runoff election for mayor and five El Paso City Council seats.
Early voting in the runoff election started Dec. 2. Election Day is Saturday, Dec. 14.
As of Sunday, about 18,000 ballots had been cast at early voting locations and by mail in races that will reshape City Hall government for the next four years.
In the December 2020 runoff election for mayor, in which Mayor Oscar Leeser defeated former Mayor Dee Margo with 80% of the vote, nearly 24,400 ballots had been cast after the first week of early voting.
Voters wait in line to cast their early voting ballot at the Dorris Van Doren Library ahead of the general election in El Paso, Texas on Nov. 1, 2024.
In the 2020 runoff race, the early voting period ran for 12 days. This year’s early voting period is only nine days.
“Runoff elections bring historically low turnout,” said El Paso County Elections Administrator Lisa Wise in an email. “We do have a shorter early voting period this election compared to the past city runoff elections. Because of this, it’s a little harder to estimate what the total turnout will be but we’re estimating around 10% turnout.”
With nearly 527,000 registered voters in El Paso, the mayoral runoff will likely be determined by as few as 52,000 voters.
Much is at stake in these races, which will almost assuredly redefine the dynamics at City Hall. Aside from the mayor’s race, five City Council races will be decided in the runoff election.
Voters have two distinct choices for the mayoral candidates: businessman Renard Johnson and city Rep. Brian Kennedy.
More: El Paso runoff election: Mayor’s race focused on El Paso wages, jobs and community vision
All registered city residents can vote in the mayor’s race. Voters living in Districts 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7 can vote in their respective races.
Here are the matchups:
Early voting totals
Following is a breakdown of ballots cast, both in-person and by mail, over the first week of early voting for the city runoff:
Who can vote?
The mayoral runoff is open to all registered voters in the city of El Paso. District races, however, are only open to registered voters who reside within those districts.
Early voting locations
The city will have the following 26 early voting locations open across the city. For details on hours, visit the El Paso County Elections Department website:
-
Enrique Moreno County Courthouse, 500 E. San Antonio Ave.
-
Arlington Park Shelter, 10350 Pasadena Cir.
-
Bassett Place, 6101 Gateway West Blvd.
-
Bowling Family YMCA, 5509 Will Ruth Ave.
-
Chavez Apodaca Community Center, 341 N. Mood Road.
-
Commissioner’s Corner, 10700 Montana Ave.
-
Dorris Van Doren Library, 551 Redd Road.
-
El Paso County Eastside Annex, 2350 George Dieter Drive.
-
EPCC Administrative Services Center, 9050 Viscount Blvd.
-
Esperanza Acosta Moreno Library, 12480 Pebble Hills Blvd.
-
Gary Del Palacio Recreation Center, 3001 Parkwood St.
-
Gonzalez Place, 4101 Rich Beem Blvd.
-
Hilos de Plata Senior Center, 4451 Delta Drive.
-
Marty Robbins Recreation Center, 11620 Vista Del Sol Drive.
-
Memorial Park Senior Center, 1800 Byron St.
-
Mountain View-Rae Gilmore Recreation Center, 8501 Diana Drive.
-
Nations Tobin Sports Center, 8831 Railroad Drive.
-
Officer David Ortiz Recreation Center, 563 N. Carolina Drive.
-
Pebble Hills High School, 14400 Pebble Hills Blvd.
-
SISD District Service Center (replaced Eastlake High School), 12440 Rojas Drive.
-
South El Paso Senior Center, 600 S. Ochoa St.
-
The Shoppes at Solana, 750 Sunland Park Drive.
-
UTEP -Union Building East, 351 W. University Ave.
-
Wellington Chew Senior Center, 4430 Maxwell Ave.
-
Ysleta Community Learning Center, 121 Padres Drive.
-
YWCA – West, 313 Bartlett Drive.
Adam Powell covers government and politics for the El Paso Times and can be reached via email at apowell@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso voters: Early voting ends today for city runoff election