By Scott Nishimura snishimura@bizpress.net
(CORRECTED FROM EARLIER VERSION: Precinct 4503 is Sylvan Heights West and Precinct 1109 is Scenic Bluff.)
More than 7,100 people voted early in the city’s $292 million bond and Crime Control and Prevention District reauthorization elections, and 1,266 people voted early in the special election to replace District 9 City Councilman Joel Burns.
Saturday is election day, and the polls will be open 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Bill Thornton, president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, said at a business lunch Wednesday that the final numbers from early voting were “terrible” and he feared the turnout might threaten the bond and CCPD elections.
“I’m very nervous about the low turnout,” Thornton said in remarks at the closing of a meeting of CREW Fort Worth, a non-profit organization of commercial real estate people.
“Naysayers will always come out to oppose things,” Thornton added, imploring his audience to vote for the transportation-heavy bond package and the CCPD, a half-cent sales tax that has become a critical piece of funding the police.
According to Tarrant County elections data, 5,668 people showed up to vote early in person, and another 1,442 voted by mail.
In the District 9 council race, 935 people voted early in person, and another 331 cast votes by mail.
District 9 incudes downtown, the West 7th corridor, Oakhurst, Near Southside, Hemphill Corridor, Fairmount, Ryan Place, Mistletoe Heights, Berkeley, TCU, Park Hill, part of Colonial Hills, Bluebonnet Hills, Seminary, South Hills, Sunset Heights, and Alamo Heights.
Here’s a look at how the District 9 early and mail-in voting went, by precinct:
1001, downtown: 41 1014, Edgecliff area: 25 1015, Alamo Heights: 24 1076, Mistletoe Heights: 57 1085, Seminary: 21 1094, Sunset Heights: 41 1095, Park Hill: 61 1108, Berkeley, Paschal: 69 1109, Scenic Bluff: 21 1133, South Hills: 71 1165, South Hills: 10 1237, South Hills: 23 1273, Seminary: 34 1298, Frisco Heights and TCU: 91 1376, Downtown, 1 1408, south: 8 1416, Charleston HOA: 5 1473, Riverside: 2 1481, Seminary/South Wayside: 6 1597, southeast: 13 1608, Ryan Place: 38 1611, Hemphill: 1 1633, south: 1 1678, Samuels Avenue: 2 1684, Alamo Heights: 14 4006, South Main Street: 9 4057, Near Southside and downtown: 9 4060, Fairmount: 50 4077, Ryan Place: 29 4096, Fairmount: 39 4097, Ryan Place: 29 4107, Brentmoor: 24 4124, Oakhurst: 67 4155, Rosemont: 47 4195, Worth Heights: 27 4201, Seminary: 85 4233, South Hemphill Heights: 37 4253, Samuels Avenue: 8 4256, Seminary: 10 4288, East Berry: 3 4475, Ryan Place: 6 4492, Downtown, 13 4493, Linwood: 37 4496, Monticello Park: 13 4503, Sylvan Heights West: 16 4587: Jennings-May St. Louis: 3 4634, West 7th: 16 4640, Samuels Avenue: 9
Candidates Ann Zadeh and Greg Hughes share Precinct 1298, Ed Lasater’s precinct is 1108, Margot Garza’s is 1608, Bernie Scheffler’s is 4097, and Juan Rangel III’s is 4060.