Central Texans come out to vote for primary
Residents from the counties of Bell, Coryell, and Lampasas went out on Tuesday to vote for the candidates they felt were best suited to represent their party for the November general election.
Here is closer look at voter turnout and which way local voters were leaning.
Bell County
In Bell County, there was a 13.7% voter turnout, which is lower than 2020’s voter turnout of 20.2%, according to the Bell County election results.
In the county overall, 30,193 votes were cast, despite there being 219,562 registered voters in the county.
During early voting and Election Day on Tuesday, a total of 21,062 votes were cast in the Republican Party primary and 9,131 cast for the Democratic Party primary.
In the Texas governor’s race, Bell County GOP voters overwhelmingly voted for incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott with 14,579 votes or 69.7%; Allen West came in second place with 3,025 votes or 14.4%.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke swept up 8,416 votes, netting him 92.6% of the votes in Bell County. Joy Diaz came in second place with 300 votes or 3.3%.
In race for the Bell County Justice of Peace Precinct 4, Place 2 seat, which covers the Killeen area, there were 11,126 ballots cast with Republican Steve Harris netting 5,573 votes in the GOP primary and Democrat Nicola James getting 5,553 votes in her party’s primary. Neither had a primary opponent.
Democratic candidate for County Commissioner Precinct 4 Louie Minor had 2,098 votes, while on the Republican side, Chris Bray had 1,898 votes. That seat also covers the Killeen area, and neither candidate had a primary opponent.
Coryell County
Coryell County had a voter turnout of 16.3% with 6,744 votes cast — 5,546 votes were on the Republican ballot and 1,198 were Democratic Party ballots.
In the Republican primary, Abbott came in first place with 3,673 votes or 67% of votes. West came in second place with 844 votes or 15.3%
In the Democratic primary, O’Rourke took the majority of the votes with 1,095 votes or 92% of votes. Diaz came in second with 43 votes or 3.6% of votes.
Lampasas County
Lampasas County had a voter turnout of 28.9%, which is higher than both Bell and Coryell.
A total of 4,508 ballots were cast — 4,047 of which were for the Republican Party and 491 were for the Democratic Party.
Abbott once again dominated in the Republican primary with 2,800 votes or 69.9% of votes. West came in second with 503 votes or 12.5% of votes.