Early votes are late but show 2 tight Bellaire council races, good lead for HISD trustee

By Charlotte Aguilar

More than three hours after polls closed, the early vote results were released in Harris County — with two tight races for Bellaire voters and promising totals for the incumbent Houston ISD trustee.

In Bellaire,  Mayor Andrew Friedberg was unopposed and drew 1,374 votes out of the more than 1,700 cast before Tuesday’s general election balloting.

Three Bellaire council seats are also up for grabs, with no incumbents running. Friedberg endorsed three candidates who had already formed their own slate — Win Frazier, Ross Gordon, and Brian Witt. Here’s how they are faring.

For Position 1, Frazier — an attorney, former chair of the Planning & Zoning Commission and parks activist — appears to be beating Kevin Newman handily:

Winfred C. Frazier	1,031	59.32%
Kevin Newman	707	40.68%

Javier Vega and Gordon are locked in a tight race for Position 3:

Javier Vega	873	49.35%
Ross Gordon	896	50.65%
Total	1,769

 

And another close contest has shaped up for Position 5, with Witt trailing Andréa Ehlers after the early vote, and David Montalvo lagging far behind:

Andréa Ehlers	870	49.21%
David Montalvo	52	2.94%
Brian Witt	846	47.85%
Total	1,768

In the race for Houston ISD trustee in District V — representing West University, Bellaire and southwest Houston — incumbent Sue Deigaard appears to be prevailing over Caroline Walter of West U, who was endorsed by the Harris County Republicans and other GOP groups, and Maria Benzon, an educator from Bellaire. If Deigaard falls below 50 percent, she will be forced into a runoff.

Maria Benzon	1,061	15.34%
Sue Deigaard	3,650	52.77%
Caroline Walter	2,206	31.89%
Total	6,917

A message from the Harris County Elections Administrator’s office blamed “power outages” for a slowdown in reporting and said the outages would “push back” the processing of Tuesday’s ballots. More than four hours after polls closed at 7 p.m., there were still no results from Election Day voting.