Editing Loving County, Texas (section)

==Politics and government==
{{PresHead|place=Loving County, Texas<ref name="county history2" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Dedrick |first=Calvert |date=1946 |page=74 |title=Vote Cast in Presidential and Congressional elections, 1928-1944 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_KT8AdO4UZPAC |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]}}; <br/> {{cite book |last=Scammon |first=Richard |author-link=Richard M. Scammon |date=1966 |page=401 |title=America Votes: 1964 |url=https://archive.org/details/americavotes6han00scam |publisher=[[Congressional Quarterly]]}}; <br/> {{cite book |last=Scammon |first=Richard |author-link=Richard M. Scammon |date=1973 |page=353 |title=America Votes: 1972 |url=https://archive.org/details/americavotes10ha00scam |publisher=[[Congressional Quarterly]]}}; <br/> {{cite book |last=Scammon |first=Richard |author-link=Richard M. Scammon |date=1973 |page=354 |title=America Votes: 1976 |url=https://archive.org/details/americavotes10ha00scam |publisher=[[Congressional Quarterly]]}}; <br/> {{Cite news |title=1992 presidential election results in Loving County, Texas |work=[[Secretary of State of Texas]] |url=https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist5_county151.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523205330/https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist5_county151.htm |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |access-date=May 23, 2022}}; <br/> {{Cite news |title=1996 presidential election results in Loving County, Texas |work=[[Secretary of State of Texas]] |url=https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist56_county151.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523205330/https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist56_county151.htm |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |access-date=May 23, 2022}}; <br/> {{Cite news |title=2000 presidential election results in Loving County, Texas |work=[[Secretary of State of Texas]] |url=https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist82_county151.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523205330/https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist82_county151.htm |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |access-date=May 23, 2022}}; <br/> {{Cite news |title=2004 presidential election results in Loving County, Texas |work=[[Secretary of State of Texas]] |url=https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist114_county151.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523205330/https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist114_county151.htm |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |access-date=May 23, 2022}}; <br/> {{Cite news |title=2008 presidential election results in Loving County, Texas |work=[[Secretary of State of Texas]] |url=https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist141_county151.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523205330/https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist141_county151.htm |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |access-date=May 23, 2022}}; <br/> {{Cite news |title=2012 presidential election results in Loving County, Texas |work=[[Secretary of State of Texas]] |url=https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist164_county151.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523205331/https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist164_county151.htm |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |access-date=May 23, 2022}}; <br/> {{Cite news |title=2016 presidential election results in Loving County, Texas |work=[[Secretary of State of Texas]] |url=https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist319_county151.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022161513/https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist319_county151.htm |archive-date=October 22, 2020 |access-date=May 23, 2022}}</ref>}}
<!--{{PresRow|Year|GOP #|Dem #|3rd #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|86|10|1|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|60|4|2|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|58|4|3|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|54|9|1|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|67|12|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|65|12|3|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|124|29|3|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|48|14|15|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1992|Independent|31|20|45|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|54|23|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|57|16|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|50|22|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|47|35|4|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|55|7|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1968|American Independent|23|18|40|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|32|46|1|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|42|46|7|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|55|36|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|71|24|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|29|62|4|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|18|60|6|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|21|98|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|21|118|24|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|27|187|1|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|6|10|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|2|12|0|Texas}}
{{PresFoot|1908|Democratic|0|3|0|Texas}}

Since the 1988 election, [[early voting]] has accounted for at least 13.11% of votes in the county, with early voting accounting for a majority of the votes in the 1994 election with 53.54%, 1998 election with 50%, 2000 election with 74.36%, 2006 election with 58.89%, and 2020 election with 68.18%. The lowest voter turnout since the 1988 election was in the 2018 election with 49% and the highest in the 1990 election with 85.71%.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Loving County Voter Registration Figures |work=[[Secretary of State of Texas]] |url=https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/loving.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201122626/https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/loving.shtml |archive-date=February 1, 2022 |access-date=May 23, 2022}}</ref> The county had the highest voter turnout in Texas in the 1986 election.<ref name="information2" /> At some points in the county's history, the county had more registered voters than residents and precincts closed early to deny people the ability to vote.<ref name="history" />

J. J. Combs was appointed as county judge by the county commission on September 6, 1893.<ref name="county history2" /> [[Edna Reed Clayton DeWees]] served as sheriff in the county from 1946 to 1948, making her the first woman to be elected as a sheriff in Texas.<ref name="history" />

The county judge is the highest elected official in the county and the position has been held by Skeet Jones since 2007. The Creager family once had family members who served as county judge, postmaster, sheriff, tax assessor, and county commission member. The Joneses are a [[political family]] in the county with members of the family controlling the positions of judge, clerk, attorney, and constable. The Jones family is a ranching family who moved to the county when Elgin "Punk" Jones and Mary Belle Jones built their ranch in 1953. Punk served as the sheriff for 28 years and Mary Belle served as the chief appraiser.<ref name="history">{{Cite web|last=Colloff|first=Pamela|date=October 1997 |title=Not-So-Loving County |work=[[Texas Monthly]] |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/not-so-loving-county/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230190523/http://www.texasmonthly.com/1997-10-01/feature7.php|archive-date=December 30, 2006|access-date=November 25, 2022}}</ref> The top elected official of Loving County, Judge Skeet Jones, and three other individuals were arrested in 2022 for stealing livestock.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 21, 2022 |title=Skeet Jones is a powerful judge in Texas' smallest county. He is being charged with cattle theft. |work=[[Yahoo! News]] |url=https://news.yahoo.com/top-elected-official-texas-smallest-184838123.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523205331/https://news.yahoo.com/top-elected-official-texas-smallest-184838123.html |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |access-date=May 23, 2022}}</ref>

In 2022, Sheriff Chris Busse reported that a ranch with 11 registered voters, including county commissioner Ysidro Renteria, had no inhabitants since 2008.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 21, 2022 |title=Voter fraud claims are heating up a battle for political control in an oil-rich Texas county |work=[[NBC News]] |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/loving-county-texas-voter-fraud-claims-rcna35791 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720041121/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/loving-county-texas-voter-fraud-claims-rcna35791 |archive-date=July 20, 2022}}</ref>

Loving was one of only four counties in Texas to give a plurality of the vote to [[Independent politician|independent]] presidential candidate [[Ross Perot]] in [[1992 United States presidential election|1992]].<ref>{{cite web
	| url = https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/datagraph.php?fips=48&year=1992&off=0&elect=0&f=0
	| title = 1992 Presidential General Election Data Graphs - Texas
	| author=<!--Not stated--> 
	| website = uselectionsatlas.org
	| publisher = Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Elections, LLC
	| access-date = November 2, 2023
}}</ref>