BROWNSVILLE — Friday night marked the end of the early voting period, and if the trend keeps up this runoff election could have the greatest participation Cameron County election officials have observed in some time.
The participation is not too surprising, given the higher than usual turnout in the primary election in March.
As of Friday night, 11,222 voters participated in the Democratic runoff, and 1,277 voted Republican.
“This runoff is producing the highest number of returning voters than we have seen in the past. … Our most recent high was a total of 10,621 in 2012. (Friday’s total) represents an 18 percent increase over that year,” said Remi Garza, elections administrator.
The Democratic Party had 67 percent of its early voters return, which Garza said is extremely high for a runoff election. Overall, 57 percent of the voter base returned to vote.
A large number of the participants in the 2016 runoff election are Democratic voters. They may be returning to the polls because of the interest in the county judge race, the county commissioner Pct. 1 race or the county constable Pct. 2 race, Garza said.
Republican numbers, on the other hand, are slipping back to what’s considered normal for the county.
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