Early voting in House District 145 runoff begins Monday

Melissa Noriega, left, and Christina Morales, candidates for Texas House District 145 Melissa Noriega, left, and Christina Morales, candidates for Texas House District 145 Photo: Staff Photos / Staff Photo: Staff Photos / Staff Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Early voting in House District 145 runoff begins Monday 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Early voting begins Monday in the special election runoff for the Texas House District 145 seat vacated by Carol Alvarado following her election to the state Senate.

Voters may cast ballots at five locations from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day through March 1, the last day to vote early before the March 5 election.

The race has come down to two Democrats: Funeral home president and CEO Christina Morales, and former Houston city council member Melissa Noriega.

The voting sites, all located in Houston, are:

County Attorney Conference Center, 1019 Congress Ave.

Moody Park Community Center, 3725 Fulton St.

Ripley House Neighborhood Center, 4410 Navigation Blvd.

HCCS Southeast College, 6960 Rustic St., parking garage

Harris County Scarsdale Annex, 10851 Scarsdale Blvd.

Morales finished atop an eight-candidate field with 36 percent of the vote in the Jan. 29 special election. Noriega received 31 percent.

Only those registered to vote in House District 145 may cast a ballot. The district covers part of the Heights, cutting southeast through downtown, South Houston and Pasadena to Beltway 8.

About 5 percent of the district’s 73,000 registered voters turned out for the Jan. 29 election.

Alvarado, D-Houston, vacated the seat in December after winning a special election to the Texas Senate to replace Sylvia Garcia, who was elected to Congress last November.

jasper.scherer@chron.com

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