MIDLAND COUNTY, Texas — The special election to fill the late City Councilman Dan Corrales' seat is getting closer and closer.
According to the City of Midland, the last time a special election was held to fill an at-large position was in 2008.
The amount of people who voted in that election was just 6.8 percent.
According to Midland County Elections Office, Midland County currently has 95,340 registered voters, yet only 17.5% voted in the previous election in a March election that decided who would be Midland County Sheriff, District Attorney and County Commissioner of Precinct 1.
While those are certainly a step up from years past, the numbers usually rise slightly during the November primaries.
“The election previous to that in November, we had 20% of the population and of our registered voters come out to vote," Midland County Elections Administrator Rosa Olgin said. "In previous years, in primaries, we have had a little bit larger turnout."
Olgin herself has a couple theories as to why voter turnout could be low, but she admitted that there could be a myriad of reasons.
"It's kind of hard to say, maybe voter fatigue," Olgin said. "A lot of people just think about the presidential election and not necessarily about any local elections that are on the ballot."
While this special election may be lacking the more high-profile positions, it still holds one that is important to the people who live within Midland County.
“It's an election that it's kind of hard to gauge voter interests on it," Olgin said. "So, we don't know if we're throwing a big party for 40,000 people show up or if we're going to get a low turnout of voters show up.”
Voters will have five candidates to choose from in the upcoming election, giving them no shortage of candidates to choose from.
According to the Midland County Elections Office, there will be seven days of early voting for the May 4 election.
Early voting dates are April 22-26, 2024, and April 29-30, 2024.
Early voting will take place at the Midland County Elections Office, 2110 N. “A” St.
