Early voting starts Tuesday in Fort Bend, Harris County special election state House runoffs

Early voting begins Tuesday in a pair of special election runoffs in Fort Bend and Harris counties to fill two vacancies in the Texas House.

In both elections, the polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. each day through Friday. Election Day for both races is Jan. 28.

The winner of the House District 28 election in Fort Bend County will replace former Republican state representative John Zerwas, who in July announced his retirement and stepped down Sept. 30. Educator Eliz Markowitz, a Democrat, topped the first-round contest in November with 39 percent of the vote, followed by Republican businessman Gary Gates with 28 percent.

In House District 148, Democrat and former HISD trustee Anna Eastman faces Republican power engineer Luis LaRotta. The winner will fill the seat represented by former Democratic state representative Jessica Farrar, who announced in August she would step down. She retired effective Sept. 30.

House District 148 covers area north of downtown and part of the Heights, extending northwest outside Loop 610. House District 28 runs from Simonton to Mission Bend and Katy to Rosenberg.

Both races are being decided by runoffs because no candidate secured a majority of the vote in the first round.

During early voting, Harris County will operate five polling locations. Fort Bend County also will operate five locations: two in Katy and one each in Fulshear, Richmond and Sugar Land.

Voters in House District 148 may cast their ballot at any of the five locations in Harris County, while House District 28 voters may do so at any Fort Bend County location.

Friday was the deadline to request a mail ballot.

More Information House District 148 special election runoff links For a map of early voting locations in the House District 148 runoff, click here. A list of early voting locations in PDF form can be found here. And for a map of the district, click here. House District 28 special election runoff links For a map of early voting locations in the House District 28 runoff, click here. A list of early voting locations in PDF form can be found here. And for a map of the district, click here.

jasper.scherer@chron.com