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Early voting has commenced in the Hidalgo County area with local races, tax rate elections and Texas constitutional amendments on the ballots.
Polls opened Monday at 29 locations as early voting in the Nov. 7 elections will run through Nov. 3.
Voters can cast their ballots early from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Saturday this week, and again from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Voting hours will return to 7 a.m.-7 p.m. the following week, from Monday, Oct. 30 to Friday, Nov. 3.
Ballots can be cast during early voting at the following cities and locations:
>> Alamo, inside the large meeting room of the Sgt. Fernando de la Rosa Library, located at 416 N. Tower Road;
>> Alton, inside Room 1 of the Alton Recreation Center, located at 349 Dawes Ave.;
>> Donna, inside the main area of the Amigos Del Valle, located at 1408 Silver Ave.;
>> Edcouch, inside the Meeting Room of the Sgt. Rodriguez Community Center, located at 320 W. Santa Rosa Ave.;
>> Edinburg, inside the Annex Room of the Elections Annex Building, located at 317 N. Closner Blvd. toward the rear, and inside the Conference Room of the San Carlos Endowment Center, located at 107 N. Sunflower Road, and inside the STAC Lounge of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, located at 1201 W. University Drive;
>> Elsa, inside the Court Chambers of the Elsa Municipal Court, located at 216 E. Fourth St.;
>> Granjeno, inside the computer lab and library of the Granjeno Public Facility, located at 6553 S. Farm-to-Market Road 494;
>> Hidalgo, inside the Conference Room of the Hidalgo Public Library, located at 710 Ramon Ayala Drive;
>> La Joya, inside the back room of the La Joya Youth Center, located at 604 Salomon Chapa Drive;
>> La Villa, inside the classroom of the La Villa Multi-Purpose Building, located at 500 E. Ninth St.;
>> McAllen, through the main entrance of the Fireman’s Pumphouse, located at 201 N. First St., and inside the exercise room of the Lark Community Center, located at 2601 Lark Ave., and inside the exercise room of the Palm View Community Center, located at 3401 Jordan Road, and inside the Community Room of South Texas College’s Nursing Campus at Building B, located at 1901 S. McColl Road, and inside the Internet Cafe of the STC Pecan Campus at Building U, located at 3201 Pecan Blvd.;
>> Mercedes, through the main entrance of the Mercedes Civic Center, located at 520 E. Second St.;
>> Mission, inside the gymnasium of Bannworth Gym, located at 1822 N. Shary Road, and inside the conference room of the Mission Parks and Recreation Center, located at 721 Bryan Road;
>> Monte Alto, inside the Meeting Room of the Monte Alto Community Center, located at 25149 First St.;
>> Palmview, inside the gymnasium of the Palmview Recreation Center, located at 406 W. Veterans Road, and through the back entrance of Pct. 3’s “The Mansion,” located at 2401 Moorefield Road;
>> Pharr, inside the Conference Room of the Development and Research Center, located at 850 W. Dicker Road, and inside the Conference Room of the Jose “Pepe” Salinas Center, located at 1011 W. Kelly Ave.;
>> Progreso, through the main entrance of the Progreso Family Community Center, located at 510 N. FM 1015;
>> San Juan, inside the Multi-Purpose Room of the San Juan Memorial Library, located at 1010 S. Standard St.;
>> Sullivan City, inside the lobby of the Sullivan City WIC Clinic, located at 371 W. Expressway 83;
>> and Weslaco, inside Conference Rooms A and B of the Business, Visitor and Event Center, located at 275 S. Kansas Ave.
In local elections, Edinburg voters will decide the Place 3 and 4 seats on the city council, with the former composed of incumbent Johnny Garcia facing David Salazar, and incumbent David White and Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano vying for the latter. There’s also a municipal court race between incumbent Hector Bustos Jr. and Armando Guerra.
David Suarez is seeking reelection to the mayoral office against Adrian Gonzalez in Weslaco, where Leticia “Letty” Lopez is also running for reelection to her District 2 post against Pete Garcia Jr. while Josh Pedraza is running unopposed for District 1.
For Alamo voters, they’ll also decide a mayoral race between incumbent Diana Martinez and Place 3 commissioner J.R. Garza, whose seat is now up for grabs in a special election between Roel “Leon” Moreno Jr. and Diego “Manny” Guerrero. Place 2 commissioner Pedro “Pete” Morales faces challenger Robert “Mailman” De La Garza, and Luis “Louie” Olivarez and Arturo “AJ” Garcia are on the ballot for Place 4.
Ricardo “Rick” Morales is in a three-way race for his mayoral seat as he seeks reelection against challengers Ancieto Santana and David Moreno in Donna, where Place 1 commissioner Richie Moreno is also facing two candidates with Jesse “Coach” Jackson and Arturo “Art” Mendoza vying for the same office. Place 3 hopefuls Ernesto Lugo, Joe A. Segura and Lupita Bueno are in another three-way contest in Donna, while Municipal Court Judge Javi Garza faces challenger Roberto “Colonel” Perez for the judicial post.
La Joya Mayor Isidro Casanova is running against Esequiel “Chuck” Garza. Roel Bermea and Enrique “Henry” Cantu are on the ballot for the Place 2 city council seat. Councilwoman Laura Mendiola Macias faces Blanca Lamar Gonzalez for Place 4, and Edwin Eloy Zuniga is going up against Irma Veloz in a special election for Place 1.
There are four propositions on Palmview ballots that — if passed — include measures reducing councilmembers from five to four following the May 2024 elections. That would lead to the mayor getting a vote on the council. Palmview is also asking voters to give the council more hiring and firing powers over the city manager in addition to changing the composition of the municipal court to one presiding and two associate judges, as well as moving the city budget adoption date to Oct. 29 or before.
Then there are the eight tax ratification elections that local school districts have put before voters in McAllen, Edinburg, Mission, Pharr-Alamo-San Juan, Hidalgo, Monte Alto, Progreso and La Joya. If approved, the measures would generate as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars in more funding for districts.
Weslaco ISD and Edcouch-Elsa are also holding bond elections, with the former asking voters for $160 million in one measure and $20 million evenly split between two other measures, while the latter is seeking $40 million. All measures would go toward construction and renovation work on district properties, and school bus purchases. In Weslaco’s case, officials there hope to build new performing arts and athletics facilities.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7.
