Early voting for county-wide elections open Monday

Early voting for elections across Gonzales County open Monday, April 22. Polls are open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the first round of early voting which lasts from April 22-26. In Smiley, polls are open 8 a.m. to noon in the first round. After a weekend break, the second round will be open from April 29-30, with polls, including Smiley, open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In the City of Gonzales, first-term mayor Connie Kacir faces challenges from Rob Brown and Bob Burchard. The winner earns a three-year term. Eleven charter amendments, featuring authorizing city council to hire independent legal counsel and changing the percent of voters required to initiate a recall of the mayor and council members, will also be on the ballot. Click on these candidates names for stories written in February about their campaign: Connie Kacir, Rob Brown and Bob Burchard. More information on purposed charter changes can be found here.

There are three open seats on the Nixon city council. Incumbents Joseph “Joey” Bjorgaard, Justin La Fleur and Mary Ann Fatheree, as well as, newcomers Michael Scherrer and Estevan (Steve) Aguirre will square off in an at-large election, with the top three vote getters securing seats.

Smiley city council has three open seats that will be contested by seven candidates. Incumbents Linda Warzecha and Elisa Douglas, and challengers Deborah Peña, Jason A. Montoya, Teresa South, Diana Pena Moreno and Michael Garrott Jr. will battle in the at-large contest. H. Wayne South declined to run for re-election.

Waelder Independent School District School Board of Trustees has two open seats. The at-large elections will feature incumbents Avery Williams, Troy Sullivan and newcomer Anita Torres Mar contesting for the openings.

There are also multiple elections that have been called off due to a lack of challengers. Those include: Gonzales Independent School District Board of Trustees, Waelder city council and Nixon-Smiley Consolidated Independent School District School Board.

Gloria Torres and Justin Schwausch will retain their seats on the GISD board. Michael Harris, Valentino “Tino” Hernandez and Samuel “Rocky” Quintero will stay on the Waelder city council. Lastly, Mark Mendez, Lester Warzecha and Jimmy Newman will remain on the NSCISD board.

The general election is scheduled for May 4.