Texas Primary Turnout Highest in 20 Years

Dallas Morning News Staff & Wire Reports The high-profile Republican race for governor helped draw the most voters to a Texas primary election in 20 years and perhaps set a record for a GOP primary.  The Texas secretary of states office said Wednesday that slightly more than 2.1 million or 16.5 of registered voters cast ballots in the Republican & Democratic primaries.   That total was the highest since 1990 and a big increase over the 2006 primaries when 1.2 million voters and 9 percent of those registered showed up. The 1.48 million Republican voters is a record for at least the last 30 years and given the state of the Texas GOP before then probably for all time. Figures going back to 1978 obtained from the secretary of state and the Texas State Library show that GOP turnout in a race for governor peaked in 1990 with more than 855000 voters. Even more telling: More Republicans voted in this years primaries than those held in 2008 when a still-undecided presidential race topped the ballot. Its exceedingly rare for a non-presidential election to see more voters than a competitive presidential primary. About 41 percent of voters cast early ballots. Tarrant County turnout was heavy enough that some polling places reported lines at 7 p.m. when voting locations are usually closing. Steve Raborn county elections administrator said the record number of GOP primary voters didnt cause major problems. For Republicans the countys dominant party the 110313 votes cast was about 8500 more than the previous record set during the 2008 presidential primary. As a percentage of Tarrant Countys registered voters the Republican turnout of nearly 12 percent was the highest since 1992 but far short of a record. Whats next: Key election dates

• March 15:   Last day to register to vote in primary runoffs
• April 5:   Early voting in runoffs begins
• April 9:   Last day to vote early in primary runoffs
• April 13:   Runoff elections where necessary
• June 11-12:   Republican Party convention in Dallas
• June 25-26:   Democratic Party convention in Corpus Christi
• Oct. 4:   Last day to register to vote in the general election
• Oct. 18:   Early voting in general election begins
• Oct. 29:   Last day to vote early in general election
• Nov. 2:   Election Day

November Election Matchups Heres a look at the major candidates for statewide offices in the November general election: GOVERNOR

• Republican: Rick Perry*
• Democrat: Bill White

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR

• Republican: David Dewhurst*
• Democrat: Linda Chavez-Thompson

ATTORNEY GENERAL

• Republican: Greg Abbott*
• Democrat: Barbara Ann Radnofsky

COMPTROLLER

• Republican: Susan Combs*
• Democrat: None

LAND COMMISSIONER

• Republican: Jerry Patterson*
• Democrat: Hector Uribe

AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER

• Republican: Todd Staples*
• Democrat: Hank Gilbert

RAILROAD COMMISSIONER

• Republican: David Porter
• Democrat: Jeff Weems

SUPREME COURT Place 3

• Republican: Runoff between Rick Green and Debra Lehrmann set for April 13
• Democrat: Jim Sharp

SUPREME COURT Place 5

• Republican: Paul Green*
• Democrat: Bill Moody

SUPREME COURT Place 9

• Republican: Eva Guzman*
• Democrat: Blake Bailey

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS Place 2

• Republican: Larry Meyers*
• Democrat: None

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS Place 5

• Republican: Cheryl Johnson*
• Democrat: None

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS Place 6

• Republican: Michael Keasler*
• Democrat: Keith Hampton

CONGRESSIONAL RUNOFFS DISTRICT 17 Republicans

• Bill Flores vs. Rob Curnock. The winner will take on incumbent Democrat Chet Edwards.

DISTRICT 23 Republicans

• Will Hurd vs. Francisco Quico Canseco. The winner will take on incumbent Democrat Ciro Rodriguez.

DISTRICT 27 Republicans

• James Duerr vs. R. Blake Farenthold. The winner will take on incumbent Democrat Solomon Ortiz.

Staff writers Tom Benning in Washington & Jeff Mosier in Dallas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.