Early voting for the March 3 presidential primary elections starts Tuesday, Feb. 18, and runs for 10 days through Feb. 28.

The elections are split into Democratic and Republican primaries to decide the candi­dates for office in the Novem­ber general election. Races on each party ballot run from presidential hopefuls down to county constable.

Because voters are picking presidential nominees, turnout is expected to be high. In 2016, the last presidential election year, 31.34 percent of Collin county voters participated in the primaries.

Even though President Don­ald Trump is the heavy favorite to win the Republican nomina­tion, he faces six challengers on Texas ballots. The most well known of those challengers is former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld.

Democratic ballots feature 17 candidates for the presi­dential nomination, although several of those have already dropped out of the contest.

Ballots for each political party include a list of non-bind­ing propositions used to gauge voter opinions on a number of issues.

Early voting times are 8 a.m.

until 5 p.m. Feb. 18-21; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 22 and Feb. 24-28; and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 23. Voters can cast ballots at any early voting center in Collin County.

In Princeton, early voting will be conducted at Princeton City Hall, 123 W. Princeton Drive. Other nearby sites are Blue Ridge ISD Administration Building, 318 W. School Street; and Farmersville City Hall, 205 S. Main Street.

Voters must be at least 18 years of age and show an accept­able form of photographic iden­tification at the polling place. Acceptable forms of identifica­tion are a Texas Driver License, Texas Election Identification Certification issued by the De­partment of Public Safety, Texas Personal Identification Card is­sued by the DPS, Texas Hand­gun License, U.S. Military Iden­tification Care, U.S. Citizenship Certificate, or U.S. Passport. If a voter does not possess one of the forms of acceptable photo identification listed above, and the voter cannot reasonably obtain such identification, the voter may execute a Reasonable Impediment Declaration and present a copy or original gov­ernment document that shows the voter’s name and address, including the voter’s voter reg­istration certificate; current util­ity bill; bank statement; govern­ment check; paycheck; or a U.S. or state birth certificate.

For more stories like this, see the Feb. 13 issue or subscribe online.

Joe Reavis •  [email protected]