EAGLE PASS — As the final hours of early voting wound down Friday afternoon, sheriff candidate Enrique Serrano stayed planted at his sidewalk station, just past the line marking the off-limits zone for political campaigning.
"I've been here 11 days, at least nine hours a day, begging people to vote for me," he said, his pockets stuffed with yellow sample ballots showing his name selected.
"A lot of people know me. They just nod their heads that they will vote for me. The Mexican people, the poor people, have just one say, and this is it," he said.
Packed closely around him, waving signs and yelling, were scores of other candidates and campaign workers, all keeping a sharp eye out for the last few arriving voters.
Call it a zoo. Call it a circus. Or call it the robust exercise of participatory democracy. But just don't lose your footing or your nerve trying to cast an early ballot in Eagle Pass.
Over the two weeks that ended Friday afternoon, the scene outside Maverick County's sole early voting location was a rollicking political scrum, as dozens of candidates put on a maximum show of force.
Tents, canopies and vehicles bearing huge campaign signs lined the street, with the best sites staked out in advance.
Each day, hundreds of volunteers, paid workers and candidates came and went, some bickering over turf or trading insults, others chatting and cheering.
Meanwhile, the paid-vote haulers shuttled their cargo to the city's multipurpose center. And for each arriving voter, the aggressive mob out front was a final test.
Jammed shoulder to shoulder, the vote hawkers shouted final appeals to arriving voters, true believers in last second conversions.
"Hey muchachas, Tracy King!" yelled one worker, while others competed with shouts of "We gotta keep Timo," and "No mas, Herrera for sheriff," and "Viva Rios."
Politics can be a rough sport in Eagle Pass, and this year it is particularly intense.
In the two-week early voting period, almost 5,600 early ballots were cast here, in a county with only 24,500 eligible registered voters.
By contrast, in Bexar County, with 860,000 eligible voters, roughly 20,000 early votes were forecast — just one-tenth the turnout by percentage in Maverick.
When the votes are counted here in the Tuesday primary, Maverick County officials predict at least a 50 percent turnout, while Bexar is predicting about 12 percent.
"What has whetted everyone's appetite here is the number of candidates. You have to understand how we live over here," said County Election Administrator Porfirio Esparza.
"My family is my wife, my kids, my grandparents, my cousins, all my compadres. We have very tight bonds. So when I run for something, I've got everyone's support, and when you have this many candidates, the whole town turns out," he said.
With five candidates for sheriff, three for tax collector-assessor and at least three for each commissioners seat, there is no shortage of hot local races.
Throw in the sharply contested rematch of Tracy King vs. Rep. Timoteo Garza, D-Eagle Pass, to represent District 80, and you have a free-for-all.
And because Republicans are not a factor here, the winners Tuesday will have pretty much won the office.
Esparza said even he was amazed by the turnout and the political theater a week ago Saturday, when more than a 1,000 votes were cast at the multipurpose center.
"It was fantastic. They had all these signs. A mariachi band in suits showed up. I was expecting the Republicans to start unloading elephants. It was quite a show," he joked.
But not all voters like the sideshow, and several first-time candidates said the rambunctious scene is unnecessary.
"It's ridiculous. People are afraid to go in and vote because of all the people who are in the way," said Juan Manuel Farias, 57, a high school principal making a first run for the County Commission.
"I've been here every day except the day we gave the TAKS test. I feel you have to be out here because everyone else is out here. I wish we could do it a different way," he said.
Most voters cut across the lawn to avoid the crowd jamming the sidewalk. Those who didn't had to pick their way through the mob, fending off offers of literature and advice.
"It was a little uncomfortable. They're a little too aggressive, and I don't think they are going to change anyone's mind," said Albert Cardenas after voting Friday.
Earlier, one woman appeared shaken by the experience.
"Personally, I don't like it. I kind of feel intimidated," she said, declining to give her name, as she scurried away from the scene.
Old-time political observers in Eagle Pass say this year's early voting frenzy is different only in degree.
"It's always been a three-ring circus. People are always hauling voters to the absentee voting place. It's been going on forever. Some candidates hire people to bring people in," said Hooky Guajardo, a former county commissioner.
"It's probably not legal, but as far as the sovereign state of Maverick goes, it happens every year. To me it's not right if you have to pay people to bring people in," he said.
Fito Barrera, 66, a longtime political player known as "El Padrino," or "The God Father," says no place else in the region operates this way.
"It's always been like this. I took a trip to Crystal and Carrizo and Medina to see how it was going, and there was no one there. There's no commotion going on in those counties," he said.
Barrera said there is much more at stake than winning. In a low-income town such as Eagle Pass, people are running for jobs as well as public office.
"We don't have much industry here. Most of the candidates don't have much education, so in order to get a good salary, they have to run for office. And lots of people want those jobs," he said.
jmaccormack@express-news.net
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