Seventy-one percent of Erath County voters showed up to vote during the Nov. 5 General Election.
It was also the first time that Erath County’s official Elections Office handled an election.
“We had great turnout across Erath County and I would just want to thank the Election Administration Office staff and all the citizen of Erath County that served as poll workers and judges to ensure we had a secure and efficient election during this presidential cycle,” County Judge Brandon Huckabee said.
Elections Administrator Lana Stevens addressed the large number of voters and long election night.
“There was no way we could have known we would have 766 limited ballots. We ran out of pre-printed paper ballots and had to make emergency ballots. When the ballot board meets on Election Day is when we can open the ballot box and start reproducing the ballots on ballot paper that can be read by the DS200 counter. Every ballot reproduced has to be verified by the ballot board (one Democrat and one Republican) before it is casted,” Stevens said. “There was close to 500 ballots that had to be reproduced. All the express votes were out at the polling locations so not until the polls closed at 7 p.m. could we grab more machines and county employees to help. It was a long night for everyone! Next presidential election we will order 500 extra paper ballots for each Tarleton precinct.”
Limitedballotsaretypically cast by college students who do not count Erath as their permanent residence.
All totals listed below are unofficial totals and to see if Erath County voters followed the statewide numbers for national and state offices, see the graphic on page A3.
Following the election, the U.S. Senate stands at 53 Republican members and 47 Democratic members, the U.S. House stands at 214 Republican members and 205 Democratic members and state governors stand at 27 Republican governors and 23 Democratic governors.
For the office of president, former president Republican Donald Trump and JD Vance were declared the winners with 312 electoral college votes while Democratic challengers Kamala Harris and Tim Walz received 226 electoral college votes. Nationwide, Trump/Vance received 75,143,199 popular votes and Harris/Walz received 71,881,747 popular votes.
In Texas, Trump/Vance received 6.4 million votes (53.22%), Harris/Walz received 4.8 million votes (42.38%), Lib. candidates Chase Oliver/Mike ter Maat received 68,266 votes (0.6%), Grn. candidate Jill Stein/ Rudolph Ware received 82,299 votes (0.73%).
For U.S. Senator, Republican incumbent Ted Cruz was re-elected with 6 million votes (53.12%) and Democratic challenger Collin Allred received 5 million votes (44.49%).
For U.S. Rep, District 25 unopposed incumbent challenger received 262,514 votes (99.41%).
For railroad commissioner, incumbent Republican candidate Christi Craddock was re-elected with 6.1 million votes (55.69%), Democratic challenger Katherine Culbert received 4.3 million votes (38.94%), Lib. challenger Hawk Dunlap received 284,203 (38.94%) and Grn. party candidate Eddie Espinosa received 300,564 (2.75%).
For Justice, Supreme Court, Place 2, incumbent Republican candidate Jimmy Blacklock received 6.4 million votes (58.29%) while Democratic challenger DaSean Jones received 4.5 million votes (41.75%).
For Justice, Supreme Court, Place 4, incumbent Republican John Devine was re-elected with 6.2 million votes (57.39%) and Democratic challenger Christine Vinh Weems received 4.6 million votes or (42.61%).
For Justice, Supreme Court, Place 6, incumbent Republican Jane Bland was re-elected with 6.1 million votes (56.33%), Democratic candidate Bonnie Lee Goldstein received 4.4 million votes (40.41%) and Lib. candidate David Roberson received 354,460 (3.26%).
For presiding judge, court of criminal appeals, Republican candidate David J. Schenck was elected with 6.3 million votes (58.29%) while Democratic challenger Holly Taylor received 4.5 million votes (41.71%).
For Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 7 Republican candidate Gina Parker received 6.3 million votes (58.4%) and Democratic candidate Nancy Mulder received 4.5 million votes (41.6%).
For Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 8, Republican candidate Lee Finley won with 6.4 million votes (58.93%) and Democratic candidate Chika Anyiam received 4.4 million votes (41.07%).
For State Rep. District 59, incumbent Republican candidate Shelby Slawson received 64,064 votes (80.69%) while Democratic challenger Hannah Bohm received 15,327 votes (19.31%).
For Chief Justice, 11 court of appeal District, incumbent Republican John Bailey was re-elected with 243,688 votes (100%).
266th Judicial District Incumbent Republican District Attorney Alan Nash was re-elected with 15,151 votes (100%).
County races
Republican candidate Bethany Espinosa was elected as Erath County Attorney with 15,035 votes (100%).
Incumbent Republican Matt Coates was re-elected for Erath County Sheriff with 15,028 votes (100%).
For the office of Tax-Assessor Collector, Republican candidate Valerie Stephen was elected with 14,390 votes (85.12%) while Democratic challenger Marycruz Serrano received 2,516 votes (14.88%).
For County Commissioner Precinct 1, incumbent Republican candidate Dee Stephens was re-elected with 3,927 votes (100%).
For County Commissioner Precinct 3, Republican candidate Sherman L. Edwards was elected with 4,186 votes (100%).
For Precinct 1 constable, incumbent Republican Jason Schipper was re-elected with 11,578 votes (100%).
For Precinct 2 constable, incumbent Republican Ryan Gibson was re-elected with 3,512 votes (100%).
In the Morgan Mill ISD Trustee race, David Kincannon was elected with 485 (83.05%) while challenger Allen Cheyenne Cobb received 99 votes (16.95%).
School races
In Lingleville ISD races, totals are combined with Erath County and Eastland County since the school district is in two counties.
For LISD school board position 1, Andrew Grimm was elected with 311 votes (46.8%) and incumbent candidate Sonya Koke received 283 votes (42.6%).
For LISD school board position 2, Justin Wilson was relected with 552 votes or (83.1%).
For LISD school board position 3, Jarod James was elected with 287 votes (43.2%) while incumbent candidate Larry Griffin received 278 votes (41.9%).
For LISD school board position 4, Brent Hallmark was elected with 534 votes (80.4%).
For Huckabay ISD school board the top three votegetters were elected including: Betty Peterson with 570 votes (28.83%), Brett Thetford with 508 votes (25.70%) and Neil Culpepper with 469 votes (23.72%). Candidate Casey Heath received 430 votes (21.75%).
All bonds for Huckabay ISD failed.
For Prop A, a $2.2M bond for school improvements, 554 votes were cast in opposition to the bond (60.95%) and 355 were cast in favor (39.05%).
For Prop B, a $900,000 refinancing bond, 564 votes (62.05%) were cast in opposition and 345 votes were cast in favor (37.95%).
For Bluff Dale ISD, Proposition A finally passed after several attempts, though with a slight margin. The $1M bond is for school septic wastewater conversion required by the TCEQ. 523 votes (50.29%) were cast in support of the measure and 517 votes (49.71%) were cast in opposition.
Bluff Dale ISD Prop. B, a $1.5M bond for school upgrades failed, with 612 votes (59.30%) in opposition and 420 votes (40.70%) in favor of the proposed measure.