Election day Tuesday

Voters across the state and in Young County have one final opportunity Tuesday to cast their ballots in the general election.

Election day voting will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5 at five voting locations in Young County.

Those locations are North Central Texas College at 928 Cherry St. in Graham, Loving VFD at 8891 Hwy. 114 E. in Loving, First Baptist Church Newcastle at 501 Graham St. in Newcastle, First United Methodist Church at 700 Third St. in Graham and the Olney Community Library and Arts Center at 807 W. Hamilton St. in Olney.

The deadline to register to vote was Monday, Oct. 7 and the last day to apply for a ballot by mail was Friday, Oct. 25. To check your registration status, visit votetexas.gov, or contact the Young County election office at 940-521-9483.

Voters are only required to have one of seven accepted forms of identification when they vote. Accepted are a Texas driver license, Texas election identification certificate, Texas personal identification card, Texas handgun license, U.S. military identification card, U.S. citizenship certificate containing photograph or a U.S. passport.

Early voting was held Monday, Oct. 21 through Friday, Nov. 1. As of the end of early voting, a total of 6,596 voters turned out to vote, or 53.1% of the 12,420 total registered voters in Young County.

At the conclusion of the first week of early voting Sunday, Oct. 27, a total of 4,499 voters turned out to cast their ballots, or 36.25% of all 12,411 registered voters in Young County. 

This total is up from the first seven days of early voting in the 2020 November presidential election which had a total of 3,806 voters turn out to cast their ballots, or 32.2% of all 11,820 registered voters in the county.

During the 2020 election, 8,239 registered voters turned out to vote overall, or 70.01%, from all registered county voters, according to the official Texas election results. In 2020, the county did not surpass a 50% turnout until Oct. 27, 2020, three days before the end of early voting which was extended.

Federal and state contested races on the ballot are for President and Vice President, U.S. Senator, Railroad Commissioner, Supreme Court Justices, Court of Criminal Appeals Judges, District 15 Board of Education, District 30 State Senator, District 68 State Representative and Court of Appeals District Justices.

Local contested races will be for County Clerk, County Tax Assessor-Collector and for the unexpired term of a city of Olney city council member.

For County Clerk, Tina Gilliam and write-in candidate Walter Harvey are vying for the seat. For County Tax Assessor-Collector, incumbent Christy Centers and write-in candidate Kendra McClatchey are vying for the seat.

For the Olney city council position, candidates Steven Nurre and Kathy Muncy are vying for the seat.

Also on the ballot is a special charter amendment election for the city of Graham with nine amendments for consideration.

For more information, view The Graham Leader’s local candidate guide. For county information, visit the Young County election website.