News
Record turnout reported during
city's early voting
By William Hoover
Anvil Herald Correspondent
Mirroring national trends in this year’s
presidential primaries, interest in the Hondo city elections is at an
all time high, according to City Secretary Yolanda Benitez. This is the
first council election to be held since the city adopted a Home Rule
Charter, providing council members with three-year terms of office.
Benitez said more early votes were cast in this
year’s municipal elections than in any election in the city’s
history. At the close of early voting Tuesday, 949 early votes had been
cast at City Hall and 171 mail-in ballots had been received, which means
1,120 Hondo residents cast ballots during just the early voting period.
Hondo has 3,304 registered voters and over one third, or 1,120, decided
to vote early. Saturday, May 10, is the official election day.
The early vote total alone exceeds past
election vote totals, with early voting and Election Day voting
combined. A stunning 131 people voted in the four-hour span on Saturday,
which was more than any eight-hour day in the early voting period,
according to the City Secretary.
“We worked our tails off Saturday,” said
Benitez, who served as the Early Voting Clerk. Benitez received help
with the throngs of voters from Sandy Rodriguez and Erica Rios, who both
served as Deputy Early Voting Clerks.
To participate in the record setting election,
and voice your opinion on how the city is being run, be sure to drop by
Hondo City Hall on election day, Saturday, May 10. Ballots can be cast
for the council candidate of your choice in city council chambers from 7
a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.
Voting in the election, which has had a record
breaking early vote, is crucial if a fair representation of the city’s
electorate is to decide to keep their current council members, who by
all reports and indications have been very productive, or to replace
one, two or all three of them with their challengers. The council
members elected this Saturday will be the first elected to the
three-year terms provided by the city’s year old Home Rule Charter.
In Place 3, Terry Teague is the incumbent, and he faces both Chris
Stiegler, a former councilman, and Virginia Gonzales.
The Place 4 incumbent, Sammy Nooner, is in a
three-person race with Lucio Torrez and former city secretary, Bea
Cervantez.
Two are seeking election to Place 5, where Mayor Pro Tem Ann-Michelle
Long faces a challenge from Chavel Lopez.
