Standing on a sidewalk outside his polling place on a sunny afternoon Thursday, Ray Balch had some good advice.

“It is important that you vote,” said Balch, 72.

He went on, quoting Winston Churchill: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

Balch had just voted at Houston Community College’s Southeast College, one of 74 people to vote in person Thursday in the special election for the Texas House’s 145th District, which runs diagonally from the Houston Heights to southeast Harris County.

Earlier that day, he had emailed Texas’ U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to express his views about the government shutdown. And he has an extensive background in civics, having taught government to Texas high school students for nearly a half-century.

So I had asked Balch what he would say to other Texans eligible to vote in the special election. It hasn’t attracted much notice, which makes sense. It was scheduled on short notice, and there’s been a lot going on in state and national politics since early voting began on Monday. Election Day is Jan. 29.

During the first three days of early voting, 284 votes were cast. No, that’s not a typo. It’s a statistic that sent me in search of a voter Thursday at one of the county’s five polling places.

Three months ago, you could barely leave your house in Houston without being buttonholed by a candidate for electoral office or one of their supporters. Even if you hid in your house, odds are good that a volunteer for Democratic Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke was texting you.

Now, though? It’s as if the voters went into hibernation. And the special election is an important one — for all of us in Harris County but particularly for Texans who live in the district.

Texas House District 145 was formerly represented by Democrat Carol Alvarado, who was elected to the Texas Senate in a Dec. 11 special election to replace Democrat Sylvia Garcia, who was elected to Congress in the November midterm election.

Eight candidates are vying to replace Alvarado, the most high-profile of whom is Democrat Melissa Noriega, a former Houston councilwoman.

Noriega temporarily represented the district in 2005, when its elected representative — her then-husband, Rick Noriega — was on active military duty in Afghanistan. Voters in 2003 approved an amendment to the state Constitution that allows public officials to designate someone to fill their elected office while they serve on active duty.

This year, she has earned the Houston Chronicle’s endorsement, which commended her for her detailed understanding of the challenges facing this largely Hispanic and predominantly working-class district.

My colleagues on the editorial board also noted that they were impressed with businesswoman Christina Morales, who is also a Democrat.

At the HCC election site Thursday, voter Paul Rodriguez said he was impressed with Morales, too. He told me that he had decided to support her after considering her background as a small business owner, and the fact that she was from the community but is a first-time candidate for office.

“We’ve got to give her a shot,” Rodriguez told me after casting his vote.

Most observers expect that Noriega or Morales will eventually emerge as the victor, albeit potentially not until midway through the biennial legislative session that began earlier this month. It’s hard to avoid a runoff,when there are eight candidates in the field.

It’s hard to make predictions about the outcome of this particular special election, though. The number of voters who have participated in this special election so far would barely fill a high school cafeteria, much less a football field.

In fact, it’s entirely possible one of the more obscure candidates in the field, such as Republican Martha Fierro, could win.

The district itself is a heavily Democratic one. In 2016, Hillary Clinton carried it by nearly 40 points. But it’s also a district with notoriously low turnout, which can lead to unexpected electoral results.

Fierro was also a contender in last month’s special election for the Texas Senate seat; she finished in third place. But Alvarado won just over 50 percent of the votes cast, escaping a runoff by less than a hundred votes.

Still, Fierro netted 3,505 votes — barely behind the runner-up, Democratic state Rep. Ana Hernandez. The other candidates are Democrats Elias de la Garza, Oscar Del Toro, Ruben Dario Gonsalez and Alfred Moreno; and Libertarian Clayton Hunt.

Burt Levine, who was standing outside the HCC polling place Thursday in support of de la Garza, agreed that Fierro had out-performed expectations.

Fierro might do so again, unless Texans who live in this district remember Balch’s advice: It’s important that you vote.

erica.grieder@chron.com