El Paso Democratic early voter turnout in March primary surpasses that of recent elections

While El Paso County voters overall cast early ballots in much larger numbers than the last mid-term primary, Democrats saw the largest surge, according to El Paso County statistics.

In all, 35,173 people went to the polls during the early voting period Feb. 20 to March 2 — a 55 percent increase over the 2014 primary, statistics show.

Of those who cast early ballots, more than 29,000 voted under the Democratic ticket — about 69 percent more than in 2014 when there was no presidential race on the ballot. On the Republican side, the early voter turnout of just under 5,800 translated to an increase of about 10 percent over 2014.

Across Texas, Democratic turnout for this year's primaries in the state's 15 largest counties were about two times the totals in 2014.

More: Early voting turnout in Texas Primary feeds excitement among Democrats, Republican concern

A strong voter turnout is also expected on Election Day Tuesday, when polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

More: Where do I vote on March 6? Full list of Election Day voting sites

Gregory Rocha, political science professor at the the University of Texas at El Paso, said Democrats rush to the polls when major elected seats are up for grabs in the county that's predominately Democrat.

“I don’t know why that happens, but when several seats open up at the same time, people rush to vote,” he said. “The consequences are greater in the (Democratic) primary races because that’s really where the elections truly get decided.”

Rocha said El Pasoans experienced a similar excitement in the 1996 elections when U.S. Rep. Ron Coleman retired and his seat was filled by Silvestre Reyes, and Eliot Shapleigh was elected to the state Senate.

“And we see this excitement again — (Beto) O’Rourke in the U.S. Senate race, which is interesting, the congressional race for his open seat, the county judge race. These bring a lot of interest,” Rocha said.

More: Hear from the Democratic candidates running for the 16th Congressional District seat

Eight candidates—six Democrats and two Republicans— are running for El Paso's 16th Congressional District seat being vacated by O'Rourke, who is running for senate against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz in what some have called the "marquee" race in Texas.

Other local races on the ballot include the county judge, county commissioners Precincts 2 and 4, state representatives and several judgeships.

More: Beto O'Rourke vs. Ted Cruz: A campaign diary

In all, 29,394 people voted early in this year's Democratic primary in El Paso County — an increase of nearly 69 percent when compared to 17,370 Democratic votes cast during early voting in the 2014 mid-term primaries.

The turnout this year is also a 64 percent increase when compared to 17,945 total early votes in 2016, which included the presidential primary election on the ballot.

In all, 5,779 votes were cast in this year's Republican primary in the county — an increase of nearly 10 percent when compared to the 5,259 votes cast during early voting in 2014.

More: What you need to know about the March primary election in Texas

Robert and Mercedes Martinez showed up to vote Tuesday morning at Bassett Center to support O’Rourke, they said.

“I don’t know if he will make it. They said that his opponent has better chances, but we have to vote if we want to make a difference,” Robert Martinez said.

Businessman Hernesto Anaya said he decided to vote early for candidates in the Democratic ballot because he is not happy with the way President Trump and Republicans in Congress are running the country.

"I just wanted to vote Democrat because I think Republicans aren’t doing their job," Anaya said. "They are following a highly discriminatory way of governing the United States and that has created a lot of division."

Any necessary runoffs will be held May 22. The general election is Nov. 6.

Aileen B. Flores may be reached at 546-6362; aflores@elpasotimes.com; @AileenBFlores on Twitter.