Concerned Citizens

Tomorrow is the election day for the Texas primaries with polling places open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. across San Antonio. If you haven’t already voted during Early Voting it is important you take the time to vote at your polling place in your respective primary. If you’re not sure of your polling place you can look it up at the Bexar County Elections website. The San Antonio Express-News usually prints a list of polling places to help out also. However, you’ll need to know your precinct but you can find that out also using the same website. Remember, you don’t need your voter registration card to vote in Texas. You can show up with your TX drivers license to vote. But it’s important you exercise your right to vote so you have a voice in Texas.

This primary season has been especially active with most of the activity happening in the Republican primary. However, the Democratic primary has also had its share of fun, especially with the entry of Bill White into the governor’s race after Thanksgiving. The Express-News has a great site to help you prepare to vote in case you may not have been paying attention to all the news on the races. However, if you really need to research the candidates and haven’t done s by now you’re in for a long night tonight. The most important race to explore is the governor’s race but it may also be important to look at a few other races such as the judicial races and the State Board of Education races.

Recently, the NY Times ran a long article about the recent controversy on the SBOE positions which have become controversial lately. While I could focus on some of the issues within these races I’d prefer to keep this entry about personal education and voting. One of the more active races in the local SBOE scope is District 5 in both parties. Ken Mercer is the current incumbent but attorney Tim Tuggey is mounting a challenge against Mercer. The Express-News recently ran an article by Gilbert Garcia on the race highlighting some of the issues and positions of the candidates.

The Texas Tribune is reporting that early voting this primary is twice the number in 2006 when Gov. Perry was last contested. Based on the numbers Bexar County has reported a 212% increase in early voting, primarily due to the hotly contested race for the Republican nominee for governor. Even so, voter turnouts for state and local elections are traditionally lower than national elections. This could be the year Texas could start to reverse the trend. But it takes your action at the poll to make that trend reverse. So if you haven’t voted yet and are registered you should exercise the right to vote provide every citizen of the United States.