Elections! Everyone’s favorite topic next to religion and taxes. Let’s not be coy about it, local elections can be stressful. It’s for a litany of reasons that people come to, and sometimes walk away from, their local government. Be it scale, information, communication, or any number of issues; people across the nation find engaging with their politicians daunting. Where in comes Mineral Wells! The city is quickly building a reputation for sitting on the verge between old school and new age, and proudly walks that line as it’s chosen aesthetic.
With Mineral Wells looking to bolster its businesses and infrastructure, a great deal of attention has been drawn to the elections in May. The people are growing curious as to what’s coming, riding on an underlying anticipation that things are changing. As Spring begins, Goodday sees an opportunity to start anew and cover the elections from the perspective of someone looking to get into the mix. How to vote, where the information is, and who the candidates are.
The best way to begin any journey is with said information! Let’s start with the City’s website. When going to mineralwellstx.gov you are greeted with a friendly page. For our purposes we will have to scroll down past a couple of links to see their news border. Not too much, about half the home page. There we can find their news flash posted March 23rd about the elections taking place on May 1st. One can also easily find a post about general elections under the ‘government’ header at the top of the page. When clicking for more information under that general post, you are linked back to their newsflash post. Here is a link to the page where you can find all this, just be sure to click “additional info”!
The newsflash contains a downloadable file of the city announcement of the general elections. Letting the public know that the seats for Place 1 At Large, Place 2 At Large, Ward 2, and Ward 4 are the contended positions. A distinction to note from its contents is the listing of additional polling places. Giving us a total of three voting locations as of the writing of this article.
. PALO PINTO COUNTY ANNEX (POSTON’S BUILDING) 109 N. OAK AVENUE (COURTROOM), MINERAL WELLS TX 76067
. GORDON COMMUNITY CENTER 201 HOUSTON AVENUE, GORDON TX 76453
. STRAWN CITY HALL 118 EAST HOUSLEY, STRAWN TX 76475
Now that we have the where established let’s talk time. May 1st from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. is voting day. The main day, the big show, the…the, well ya’ll get it. That will be your last day to be heard so make sure to take note! The download mentioned above also has timetables for extended early voting hours and days. Here is a quick summary.
- Election Day is May 1st with voting hours being 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
- Early Voting will take place April 19th-23rd with hours being from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Early Voting will also take place April 26th and 27th with hours being 8 a.m.-5 p.m. as well.
- The only days with Extended Early Voting Hours are April 22nd and April 26th.
- Extended Early Voting Hours are stated as being 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Outside of these sources, the website suggests that people reach out to the Mineral Wells City Clerk office (940) 328-7702 or the Palo Pinto County Elections Admin. Laura Watkins office (940) 659-1217.
With that little bit of knowledge, the next step is to examine who is running. For that folks, we encourage you to keep up with Goodday! We plan to take on some of that old school flair and will be reaching out to every candidate on the official ballot in hopes of providing ya’ll with profiles for your representatives. We have already heard back from leaders for Ward 4 and Place 1 and will be bringing you statements soon! Till then stay tuned and reading for continued updates moving forward!
Past Writer | I consider myself to be pretty simple. I love a good conversation and talking about how we can all come together. Mineral Wells is my home and I love watching it grow.
