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Cameron County might just nearly evenly split on whether to grant officials authority to fund an entertainment arena with existing venue/visitor tax revenue.

That funding was put before voters in Saturday’s election as Cameron County Proposition A. Shortly after polls closed at 7 p.m., early voting totals were released, showing nearly a 50-50 split, with the proposition failing by 18 votes.

The proposition asked voters whether the county’s existing venue/visitor tax revenue should be used to help pay for construction of a proposed $100,000 million, 10,000-seat mixed-use arena to anchor the 1,300-acre Madeira master-planned community in North Brownsville.

In Harlingen, where some of the night’s most contentious elections included the mayoral race, early voting totals showed strong support for challenger Norma Sepulveda (2,621 early votes), who was ahead of incumbent mayor Chris Boswell (1,744 early votes) by a margin of 877 votes.

For Commissioner, district 1, in Harlingen: Early voting resulted in 326 votes for Richard Uribe, 313 votes for Ford Kinsley, and 278 votes for J.J. Gonzalez.

For Commissioner, district 2, in Harlingen: Early voting results showed Daniel Nemecio Lopez leading the pack with 260 votes, followed by Nick Consiglio (182 votes), Ernesto Cisneros (171 votes), and Frank Puente (74 votes).

All three propositions in Harlingen were showing favor among early voters, with Harlingen’s proposition A showing 2,700 votes in favor to 1,508 votes against; proposition B showing 3,201 votes in favor versus 1,037 votes against; and proposition C gaining 3, 115 votes in favor to 1,113 votes against—all based on early voting totals only.

Cameron County Elections Administrator Remi Garza told The Valley Morning Star that work to tally the votes could finish around 10 to 10:30 p.m.

In Port Isabel, early voting granted a lead in the mayoral race to Martin Cantu Jr. (494 votes) who is opposed by J.J. Zamora (272 votes).