Early voting for the Nov. 5 election will wrap up officially Friday, Nov. 1 as we head towards Election Day.
For those wanting to cast their ballots early, there are two locations to do so: the Main Voting location at the new Erath County Annex located at 222 East College Street and at the Dublin Annex located at 219 South Grafton Street.
Early voting hours at the Main Voting location 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 30-Nov. 1 and 8 a.m. to 5 Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at the Dublin location.
On Election Day, voters can cast their ballot at any location in the county from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. since the county utilizes vote centers.
Election Day voting locations include: the new Erath County annex; the Dublin annex; Texas A&M Agrilife Research and Extension Center (1229 N. U.S. Hwy. 281 in Stephenville); Lingleville Volunteer Fire Department (19010 W. FM 8 in Stephenville); Texas Bank (988 Wolf Nursery Road in Stephenville); Selden Community Center (4142 FM 913 in Stephenville), Morgan Mill Community Center (406 CR 156 in Stephenville), Bluff Dale Community Center (175 Holt in Bluffdale), Huckabay Community Center (42346 North FM 419 in Stephenville), United Cooperative Services (1200 Glen Rose Highway in Stephenville) and Cross Timbers Church of Christ (1515 W. Cedar Street in Stephenville).
According to information released by Erath County, as of 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25 7,281 people had cast their ballots in Early Voting (or about 28% of registered voters in the county).
In 2020 Presidential election in Erath County during week one, there were 5083 votes cast and in the 2016 presidential election during week one in Erath County, there were 5441 Early votes cast.
For voters who may be seeking a nonbiased platform to look up information on candidates, https://www. vote411.org/texas provides reliable information from the League of Women Voters.
On the ballot, for the entire country is the race for president. Candidates include former President Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance (Rep), current Vice President Kamala D. Harris and running mate Tim Walz (Dem), Chase Oliver and running mate Mike ter Maat (Lib), and Jill Stein and running mate Rudolph Ware (GRN).
Also on the ballot for Texas is United States Senator between incumbent Ted Cruz (Rep) and challengers Colin Allred (Dem) and Ted Brown (Lib).
Longtime incumbent Roger Williams (Rep) is uncontested in the race for U.S. Rep., District 25.
For railroad commissioner, voters have the choice to vote between four candidates: incumbent Christi Craddick (Rep), Katherine Culbert (Dem), Hawk Dunlap (Lib), and Eddie Espinoza (Grn).
For Justice, Supreme Court, Place 2, voters will have a choice between incumbent Jimmy Blacklock (Rep) and DaSean Jones (Dem).
For Justice, Supreme Court, Place 4, voters will have a choice between incumbent John Devine (Rep) and Christine Vinh Weems (Dem).
For Justice, Supreme Court, Place 6, voters will have a choice between incumbent Jane Bland (Rep), Bonnie Lee Goldstein (Dem), and J. David Roberson (Lib).
For presiding judge, court of criminal appeals, voters will cast ballots for either David J. Schenck (Rep) and Holly Taylor (Dem).
For judge, court of criminal appeals, Place 7 voters will cast a ballot for either Gina Parker (Rep) or Nancy Mulder (Dem).
For judge, court of criminal appeals, Place 8 voters will cast a ballot for either Lee Finley (Rep) or Chika Anyiam (Dem).
For State Rep., District 59 voters will cast a ballot either for incumbent Shelby Slawson (Rep) or Hannah Bohm (Dem).
Incumbent candidate John Bailey (Rep) is uncontested in the race for Chief Justice, 11th Court of Appeals District.
Incumbent candidate Alan Nash (Rep) is unopposed for District Attorney, 266th Judicial District.
For County Attorney, candidate Bethany Espinoza (Rep) is unopposed.
For Erath County Sheriff, incumbent Sheriff Matt Coates (Rep) is unopposed.
For County Tax-Assessor Collector, voters will cast their ballots for either Valerie Stephen (Rep) or Marycruz Serrano (Dem).
For Precinct No. 2 Constable, candidate Ryan Gibson (Rep) is unopposed.
For Precinct No. 1, 3 and 4, Constable candidate Jason Schipper is unopposed.
For those in Precinct 3 for County Commissioner, Sherman Edwards will be the sole candidate on the ballot. (Edwards was appointed to the seat when longtime commissioner Joe Brown retired since Edwards had already won the Republican primary at that point).
Those who live in the following school districts will have additional items to vote on for the Nov. 5 ballot.
Bluff Dale ISD
For Bluff Dale ISD, a school bond issue is on the ballot with Prop A being $1 million for the construction, acquisition and equipment of school infrastructure improvements (with priority given to the replacement of the district’s septic system with a wastewater treatment plant to comply with TCEQ requirements); Prop. B being $1.5 million for the construction, acquisition, rehabilitation, renovation, expansion and equipment of school facilities (with priority given to facility upgrades)
Huckabay ISD
Huckabay ISD will also have a bond election on the ballot with Prop. A being $2.2 million for for the purposes of designing, constructing, renovating, improving, upgrading, updating, acquiring, and equipping school facilities (and any necessary or related removal of existing facilities), with preference to classrooms, and the purchase of new school buses, such bonds to mature serially or otherwise (not more than 40 years from their date) in accordance with law; and Prop. B for $900,000 for the purposes of refunding all or a portion of the principal, interest, and redemption premium on previously issued time warrants of the District styled “Huckabay Independent School District Time Warrants, Series 2021”, dated May 1, 2021.
There will also be school board trustees on the ballot. Voters will select three candidates from: Betty Peterson, Brett Thetford, Casey Heath and Neil Culpepper.
Lingleville ISD
Those voting in Lingleville ISD will cast ballots on the following school board races.
Position 1 between Andrew Grimm and incumbent Sonya Joke (vote for one).
Position 2 – incumbent Justin Wilson is running unopposed.
Position 3 between Jerod James and incumbent Larry Griffin (vote for 1).
Position 4 – incumbent Brent Hallmark is running unopposed.
Morgan Mill ISD
For those in Morgan Mill ISD, voters will cast their ballot for either David Kincannon or Allen Cheyenne Cobb.