Early voting tops 700 ballots cast
By SHANNON CRABTREE scrabtree@leader-news.com

Early voting in the El Campo City Council race could easily outpace the last at-large contest with two days of balloting still to come.

Wharton County Elections Administrator Judy Owens reported 716 ballots cast as of 12:45 p.m. Friday. A breakdown of how many voted in the ECISD and city individual races was not available as of presstime.

The school district and city are combining the electronic ballot this year.

During the last at-large City Council race held in 2006 a total of 1,098 ballots were cast - 776 of them during the early voting period.

During that race four candidates were vying for the three seats with the top vote getter collecting 770 votes.

On the first day of early balloting, 178 votes were cast for the El Campo school board election and 138 in the city of El Campo at-large race.

When polls closed Wednesday, the number of total ballots cast had risen to 469.

Early voting continues 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, May 5 and 6.

Voters can cast ballots at the El Campo Fire & EMS station for both the city and school election.

Election Day is Saturday, May 10 with balloting from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

This year the El Campo at-large Council election has drawn seven can didates. The top three vote-getters of all at-large candidates win the posts. Historically, the mayor and mayor pro tem are selected from these three posts.

In the El Campo school race, two seats on the board are contested.

IMUD ballots can be cast at the district's North Liberty Street office.

There are four hopefuls for the IMUD board. The top three vote-getters will win seats.

Eight people had cast IMUD ballots during the first two days of balloting.