Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the record turnout in this year’s primary elections. Well, it turns out the voting isn’t quite over yet… there are runoffs in a few key elections. Yay!

The Democratic runoff includes a race we here at West and Clear really care about: Texas Railroad Commission. For the uninitiated: the TRC doesn’t have anything to do with railroads anymore. Instead, they are mostly charged with regulating the oil and gas industry.

We encourage you to vote for Dale Henry for railroad commissioner. If you’re concerned about “saltwater” (read: carcinogenic-chemical-water) injection wells and what they mean for our long-term groundwater safety, Mr. Henry is your candidate.

Mr. Henry is also the only candidate who seems to realize that we can’t drill our way out of an energy shortage, and he plans to focus on a sound renewable energy policy as Railroad commissioner.

Please note: if you voted in the Republican primary on March 4th, you cannot vote in the Democratic runoff. If you voted in the Democratic Primary OR if you voted in neither party’s primary, you can vote in the runoff. Look up your polling place, and vote for Dale Henry!

I’m already going back on my promise of trying to give equal time to all three major candidates. Chelsea Clinton will be speaking in the Palo Duro lounge in the E. H. Hereford University Center at UT Arlington tomorrow afternoon. As you may know, I WORK at UT Arlington, and this would have been a super-easy event for me to attend, had I not already taken the day off to spend in Dallas for the Obama rally.

Chelsea, if you read this, I’m sorry I missed you, and it’d be awesome if you asked your mom to come speak in Fort Worth.

If you’re elderly, infirmed, incarcerated, or plan to be out of the country during the early voting period and on March 4th, you can vote early starting today. Check out the Tarrant County Elections website for a list of times and locations.

Update:  You don’t HAVE to be any of those things to go vote early. Anyone can do it. Those are just the reasons for early voting listed on the elections website.