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35% of county early votes

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The 2022 General Election is almost over, but more than a third of Bastrop County registered voters wrapped up their civic duty last week.

As of last Friday, Nov. 4, the Texas Secretary of the State’s Office recorded Bastrop County as having 19,787 votes cast when early voting ended. The cumulative tally represents 35.47% of the 55,779 registered voters in the county.

There were 18,488 in-person voters and 1,299 mail-in votes. Bastrop County’s remaining 35,992 registered voters had 17 polling locations to go vote if they decided to wait until Election Day, Nov. 8.

In comparison with the state, Bastrop County edged out early voter turnout proportionally. The Secretary of the State’s Office recorded 5,491,547 of 17,672,143 registered voters went to the polls during early voting statewide, meaning 31.07% of registered Texans voted prior to Election Day.

Election Day Locations

Here’s where Bastrop County residents can vote on Election Day, Nov. 8, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• Wyldwood Baptist Church, 398 Union Chapel Rd., Cedar Creek

• River Valley Christian Fellowship, 1224 W. S.H. 71, Bastrop

• Ascension Catholic Church, 804 Pine St., Bastrop

• Paige Community Center, 107 S. Main St., Paige

• Bastrop County ESD#2 Station 3, 926 FM 1441, Bastrop

• Calvary Baptist Church, 3001 Loop 150 East, Bastrop

• Smithville Rec Center, 106 Royston St., Smithville

• Rosanky Community Center, 135 Main St., Rosanky

• Bastrop County Cedar Creek Annex, 5785 FM 535, Cedar Creek

• The Gathering, 287 FM 20, Bastrop

• Hills Prairie Baptist Church, 1338 S.H. 304, Bastrop

• Red Rock Community Center, 114 Red Rock Rd., Red Rock

• Elgin Recreation Center, 361 N. S.H. 95, Elgin

• Bastrop County Pct. 4 Road & Bridge, 1133 Dildy Dr., Elgin

• Faith Lutheran Church, 230 Waco St., McDade

• Family Worship Center, 2425 FM 1704, Elgin

• Bastrop County ESD#2 Station 4, 1432 N. Hwy 95, Bastrop

Free rides to the polls

The Capital Area Rural Transportation System and other Texas transit providers, taxis and ride share services are offering free rides for voters during early voting on Election Day.

Passengers can ride on CARTS Country Bus and CARTS NOW on-demand services at no cost. Free rides will not be offered on CARTS Interurban Coach Regional routes.

The CARTS NOW on demand service operates Monday through Friday in the city limits of Bastrop, Taylor, and Lockhart from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Promo code “earlyvote2022” gets a free ride to the polls and can be used again for the ride back. Residents can schedule their ride by downloading the CARTS NOW app on the Google Play store or at the App store, or by calling 512-505-5666.

Residents in the CARTS rural service area should schedule a Country Bus ride 24 hours in advance by calling 1-512-478-7433 and indicate their wish to travel to a polling location. CARTS provides advance reservation, shared ride van service with its Country Bus system to thousands of Central Texas customers. Sixty mini-buses and vans operate the general public, elderly and disabled paratransit service throughout the region. Check schedules, which vary by area, at http://www.ridecarts.com/services/country.

CARTS provides transportation for the non-urbanized areas of Bastrop County as well as Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Travis and Williamson counties. 

What’s on the ballot?

In Elgin, while there are no city or school seats on the ballot, the municipal government asks in Proposition A, “Shall an initiative petition be approved to eliminate enforcement of low-level marijuana offenses in the City of Elgin?” Residents in voting precincts 4024, 4025 and 4026 can vote for or against the ordinance.

Area candidate races include a three-way contest for Bastrop County judge. Republican Gregory Klaus, Democrat Dock Jackson and independent Ronnie McDonald are vying for the county’s top seat.

There are two commissioner court seats on November’s ballot. Republican Clara Beckett is the incumbent in Precinct 2 as she faces Democrat Willy Ray Culberson. Precinct 4’s race is between Republican David Glass and Democrat Cheryl Renee Reese.

Precinct 1 has a justice of the peace contest. Incumbent Cindy Allen represents the Republicans against Democrat Dayna Beck.

There will be a few boxes to check for Austin Community College board of trustee seats. Places 4 and 5 are uncontested, but Place 6 is between Nathaniel Hellman and Steve Jackobs.

Residents within McDade Independent School District have two school bond proposals to examine, one for $2 million and the other for $23 million. A third proposition asks residents to ratify the property tax rate of $1.025 per $100 valuation, a rate that will result in an increase of 38.22% in maintenance and operations tax revenue for the district for the current year as compared to the preceding year, which is an additional $524,832.97.

Outside, but pertaining to, Bastrop County, the governor’s race is between incumbent Republican Greg Abbott and Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. Other statewide races include battles for lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, land commissioner, agriculture commissioner, railroad commissioner and in the Texas Legislature. At the federal level, residents will vote in one of two U.S. House of Representatives seats that include Bastrop County.