Saturday is the last day to cast a ballot for Vidor mayor

According to Vidor City Secretary Vicki Watson, the most recent mayoral runoff elections were in 2010 and 2011. Neither of those elections saw more than 450 ballots cast, much less more than 500.

In fact, turnout totals even far exceeded the expectation of Ward 3 Council person and Mayoral candidate Misty Songe.

Originally, she expected 300 people would turn out in total. After 256 ballots were cast in the first few days, she revised her hope to 500.

On the eve of Election Day, she said she hopes to see about 100 more people cast a ballot on election day, but she expressed excitement about how many people already have been involved “especially for a run-off.”

Mayoral Candidate Ronnie Herrera said, regardless of who wins, he’s proud of the residents who decided to turn out.

“I am glad it was a clean race,” he said. “It is a win for the city either way the race turns out.”

But the more voters, the better with such high stakes.

The next mayor will be tasked with leading the relatively new council through continued storm recovery, drainage improvements, code enforcement and other related issues.

While campaigning, Songe has boasted her experience on the council as a reason to choose her to fill the seat while Herrera has noted that he’s followed along the council’s operations while his brother has been a member of the council. Additionally, he said the City Manager runs the city’s actual day-to-day business and will be there to guide all council members.

Nearly 200 voters would have to turn out on Election Day to at least meet the May regular election total.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at the Raymond Gould Community Center, 385 Claiborne, in Vidor.

Follow The Beaumont Enterprise on Saturday evening for election results.

kaitlin.bain@beaumontenterprise.com

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