Early voting begins today in Harris County for the Houston runoff election. Voters will get to decide who the new mayor of Houston will be, along with a new Controller, and -7- City Council seats.
But the big question is not about who is going to win or lose. The real question is, will anyone bother to show up and vote?
"Turnout in city races is always lower than in midterms and definitely presidential election years, and in runoffs it's lower than in the first round" said Rice University's Mark Jones, "So, I think we're looking at turnout around 225,000, which is relatively low for a city the size of Houston."
Most of the voters that do decide to show up will likely be Democrats, but there are some names on the ballot for Republicans as well.
"We would expect some Republican voters" Jones told KTRH, "The fact that Sheila Jackson Lee is one of the mayoral candidates, should drive most Republicans to turn and vote for John Whitmire to avoid the congresswoman becoming the next mayor of the city of Houston."
Also on the ballot, a big name race in District G between Mary Nan Huffman, and high profile attorney, Tony Buzbee.
Early voting runs until December 5th, with Election Day on December 9th.