Tuesday will be the last opportunity Edinburg citizens will have to vote in the city’s runoff election which has already drawn higher turnout than it saw during the general election last month.
The runoffs, which will decide who will serve as mayor and city council members for Place 1 and Place 2, drew a total of 7,741 in-person voters during the early voting period. That was nearly 2,000 more voters than the 5,906 people who voted early during the general election.
But despite the higher turnout, the two mayoral candidates were concerned over confusion among their citizens.
Both current Mayor Richard Molina and former City Manager Ramiro Garza Jr., who are running against each other in the runoff, said many residents were unfamiliar with the runoff process.
People who voted in the general election did not realize they would have to vote again in the runoff election if they want their vote to count. Additionally, people who didn’t vote in the general election were unaware they were eligible to vote in the runoff.
“There’s some confusion,” Garza said. “We’re just explaining that even though they voted in the last election, they have to go back out if they haven’t voted in the runoff.”
Molina said they’re trying to get the word out in order to clear up the confusion and encourage more people to vote.
“There’s other people that I’ve talked to that tell me well, they didn’t vote the last time so they think that they’re not allowed to vote this time,” Molina said. “So there’s that confusion on both sides … it’s just telling people it’s a brand new election, make sure you come out and vote.”
While nearly 8,000 have voted early, Molina pointed out that turnout was still relatively low.
“Yes, they’re higher than the first election but they’re still relatively low,” he said. “We still have 50,000 registered voters and you still only have 8,000 that have come out.”
He estimated that turnout in the runoff would surpass 10,000 voters but that still would only be 20% of all registered voters.
“It’s great that we’ve had some interest and there’s been some votes,” Garza said, “but obviously there’s still so many in the city that have not voted.”
The three Edinburg races went into a runoff since neither of the candidates received more than 50% of the votes. In order to win, a candidate must receive 50% plus one vote.
During the general election, Garza received the most votes with 3,499 votes while Molina followed with 3,462 votes.
In the Place 1 council member race, Dan Diaz received 2,327 votes, while Ismael “Smiley” Martinez received 2,236 votes.
For Place 2 council member, Ruben “Bubba” Palacios received 3,109 votes, while Jason De Leon received 2,376 votes.
The three races to be decided is what Garza thinks is driving more people to vote.
“Frankly, I mean, this is going to determine the future of the city with the mayor’s position and two council positions; it could completely change the leadership in the city,” he said. “I think people know what’s at stake and they’re coming out and expressing their voice.”
Another possible driving factor is the competitiveness of the races — Molina came in only 37 votes behind Garza.
“You’re getting people now coming out and voting because they know how important their vote is,” Molina said. “However, like I said, we’re still low.”
For any additional, potential voters who may not have made up their minds about who to vote for in the mayoral race, Molina said his message was simple.
“Edinburg has never experienced this type of growth and success as far as infrastructure problems, drainage,” he said, touting record-breaking number of drainage projects, park and roadway projects.
“And I believe that I’ve been a part of that growth, I’ve been a part of the success and you cannot argue with results,” he said. “Results do matter and at the end of the day, in order to keep the same growth and to keep the same momentum, we need to keep the same leadership.”
Garza, on the other hand, said he was not a career politician and said he hoped to change the structure of how the city was run.
“I’ve been city manager before then head of economic development for the city,” he said. “I know the city well and I’m trying to change, I guess, the structure right now of how things are from a leadership standpoint, political leadership.”
He reiterated his campaign message of being a person of integrity and his pledge to adopt an ethics policy for the city.
“I’m looking to bring back trust to city government and enact an ethics policy for us as elected officials so that we can get people back engaged and participating in the planning for our city,” he said. “That’s what I’m looking to do, use the experience that I have to just improve our city and make our city better.”
