1 Ailing Voter Adds Up to Zero Turnout for GOP at Precinct
Suppose they held an election and no one voted.
That’s what happened Tuesday when no one showed up for the Republican primary in this West Texas town, population 60.
But election officials at Precinct 34 in Taylor County were not surprised. Only one person voted in the previous primaries.
Shep’s only Republican voter developed cancer and was sent to a hospital in Houston, county GOP Chairman Brent Casey said. The man had been the only GOP voter in primaries in 1986 and 1988.
Before 1986, there was not even a voting place for Republicans in Shep, which is 250 miles west of Dallas. Republicans had to vote in another precinct.
Officials opened the GOP polling place Tuesday hoping to attract other voters, who were allowed to decide at the last minute whether to vote in the Democratic or Republican gubernatorial primary.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
