With the early voting period closing Friday, the Hidalgo County voter turnout came up short in comparison to the last non-presidential election in 2019 by around 700 ballots.
In the county a total of 14,278 voters cast their ballots in person during the 12-day period with 627 being mailed in.
For comparison, the 2019 election — the last non-presidential general election — had a total of 15,317 early votes cast in person during the same period and 295 mailed in.
This is a difference of 697 between the 2019 and 2021 early voting periods.
The number of mail-in ballots, however, more than doubled that of the most similar elections.
With 28 voting locations in Hidalgo County available to residents, the Elections Annex Building in Edinburg continued to outperform all other locations in the region with a total of 5,286 ballots being cast there.
In 2019, the Elections Annex Building totaled 4,690 early ballots.
The Sullivan City WIC Clinic had the least number of voters with only one ballot being cast Friday within the 12-day period.
Friday was the last day for early voting and had the largest turnout with 2,153 total ballots cast. In similar fashion, the 2019 election also garnered the most voters on its last day of early voting with 2,236 ballots cast.
As previously reported by The Monitor, this year’s election consists of eight constitutional amendments and municipal elections for six cities in Hidalgo County. These would affect the cities of Alamo, Donna, Edcouch, Edinburg and La Joya, and a special election in Peñitas.
The Edinburg mayoral race continues to peak residents’ interests. In this election, incumbent Mayor Richard Molina faces challengers Ramiro Garza and Gilbert Enriquez, the former city manager and an ex-councilman, respectively.
Election Day is Nov. 2 and voters are encouraged to visit www.hidalgocounty.us or myrgv.com to find polling locations as well as sample ballots for each election.
