Early voting begins today, Monday, May 20, 2024, for the Terry County Commissioner Precinct 1 Republican Runoff Election between Myron Bovkoon and JR Cudd. In the general primary election, held on March 5, 2024, there were three candidates, Myron Bovkoon, JR Cudd, & Manuel Macias vying for the one spot. Mike Swain, currently the Precinct 1 Commissioner, has held this seat since January 1, 2009, and decided to retire, leaving this seat up for grabs.
In the March 5th primary, Bovkoon had the most votes with 300, followed by Cudd with 186, and Macias with 127, which equaled 313 total votes. State law requires that a candidate in a primary race must have 50% plus one vote to avoid a runoff election. Bovkoon came close only needing seven more votes to have over 50%.
Unlike the general primary which had two weeks of early voting, the runoff primary will have one week of early voting. In the 2022 March 1 Primary, two county runoff elections took place. In the 2022 Terry County Judge Republican Primary race, there were three candidates, Geoff Cooper, Larry Gilbreath, and Tony Serbantez. Serbantez received 796 votes, whereas Gilbreath had 486 and Cooper with 424. That was a total of 1706 votes, with Serbantez and Gilbreath heading to a runoff election. The 2022 Terry County Justice of the Peace Republican Primary between Judge Angie Garza, David Cox, and M.J. Harrell had a total of 1685 votes cast, with Garza earning 815, Cox with 438, and Harrell with 432, forcing a runoff between Garza and Cox.
In the 2022 primary runoffs, Serbantez received 772 votes and Gilbreath got 366, totaling 1138 votes. That was a 33% decrease from the general primary election. The same happened with the Justice of Peace as Garza received 720 votes and Cox got 418, totaling 1138. In the J.P. runoff, there was about a 32% decrease in votes. This is not anything new to the primary runoffs as they have been historically lower in voting than the general primaries.
Early voting began Monday, May 20, 2024, through Tuesday, May, 21, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 22 through Thursday, May 23, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and Friday, May 24, 2024 from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 pm. All early voting will be held at the Terry County Joint Elections Office at the Terry County Annex, located at 507-A West Main. Primary Runoff Election Day is Tuesday, May 28, 2024 from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and will be located at the Coleman Park Party House located at Coleman Park.
**NOTE: If a person voted in the Democrat Primary, they can not vote in the Republican Primary Runoff. If a person did not vote in the March 5th Primary, they can vote in the runoff if they are a registered voter in Precinct 1.
