At this year’s Texas Democratic Party State Convention the only excitement should have been Mayor Bill White’s keynote address and the election of the party chair. That’s the way it’s been every non-presidential year for several decades. That was until 2008 when Texas was thrust into the presidential nomination spotlight with it’s hybrid delegate selection process known as a prima-caucus or the Texas Two-step as everyone likes to call it. After all the excitement and confusion of that year a move began by some to work to abolish the caucuses as a part of delegate allocation, using only the popular vote in the primary as the source of allocation. On Saturday Texas Democrats settled the argument, at least for two years, by rejecting that position and retaining the Two-step. Read more…
We’re now into the final 24 hours of business before a midnight deadline for dealing with Senate bills. SB 362, commonly known as Voter ID, is in that mix. To avoid floor debate and vote on the bill House Democrats have been “chubbing” bills on the Local and Consent calendar, effectively grinding the House to a crawl. It’s a perfectly legal tactic but it can be countered with Republicans or Speaker Joe Straus calling the question on the bill. So far that has not happened, demonstrating a sort of cordial approach to managing the business of the House and allowing sidebar discussions to occur on Voter ID which seem to be happening. Read more…
Today and probably tomorrow the Texas House is in heated deliberations and procedural gymnastics all focused around a bill that would require a photo ID or two other forms of identification to vote, commonly known as the Voter ID bill. It has locked up business in the House with occassional spurts of activity happening throughout the Memorial Day weekend. Democrats have promised stalling tactics to prevent the bill from reaching the House floor for debate and vote before the Tuesday midnight deadline. Today Speaker Joe Straus (D-San Antonio) voiced his frustration at the situation, calling Democrats obstructionists only to be met with counter-criticism from the Democratic leadership. Read more…
In a column scheduled for Sunday’s Express-News Jan Jarboe Russell writes that after a very successful four years as the mayor of San Antonio a movement may have begun to draft Phil Hardberger to make a gubernatorial run. It would be a good natural progression and possibly a great challenge for either Rick Perry or Kay Bailey Hutchison. However, time may be more the issue than anything in this decision. Harberger is 75 years old and would be 80 at the end of a first term as governor. So while the idea is appealing it probably won’t happen. But it does point out an interesting situation in Hardberger’s political career. Could he have reached his political peak too late in life? Read more…
This legislative session Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) authored a bill (SB 315) that would change the redistricting process for congressional districts to be managed by a bi-partisan commission instead of the normal partisan wrangling that occurs in the Texas legislature every decade. However, the Austin-American Statesman’s Postcards blog is reporting that Sen. Wentworth has pulled the bill from consideration after a “split among Republicans continued to block a vote on the issue.” Rather than endure a potential floor fight on this or end up unsuccessfully getting the bill scheduled Wentworth threw in the towel and pulled it from consideration. Read more…
I just took a look at the early voting totals at the Bexar County Elections Office and the numbers just aren’t that exciting. Today’s final total was 8,003 with a cumulative total of 36,773 to this point. If you figure there might be a last minute surge of 10,000 on Tuesday that would bring the total of early voting up to 46,773. Compare that with 2007 when 51,931 voted early in the municipal election or 2005 when 56,284 voted early you can see that 2009 is not proving to be a stellar year. If you figure 48% of the electorate will vote early in the municipal election we’re headed to a turnout of only 97,444 at the end of the day Saturday. That multiplier is the same one being used by the Burnt Orange Report for the Austin municipal elections. It’s a reasonable multiplier since municipal elections end on a Saturday instead of Tuesday. We’ll see how well I am at projecting elections but any way you slice it San Antonio just didn’t turn out for this election as in year’s past.
Updated 5/5/2009 9:03 pm – I pulled in today’s votes which came in at 12,571 (2,571 more than I predicted) so adding the new numbers in the projected final vote should be 102,800.
Updated 5/9/2009 1:35 pm – Brian Chasnoff, Express-News reporter, is blogging about today’s election and reports light turnout in many parts of the city. Based on that report and from prior numbers of early voting I’m sticking with my projection. It’s a shame San Antonians just don’t turn out for municipal elections.
This is the only weekend early voting will occur on during this election. Voter turnout has once again been dismal for a municipal election. After a great voting experience in the Presidential race in 2008 it is really a shame San Antonians are not exercising their right in the local elections for city council. This year we have a great field of candidates for mayor as well as some great races in city council. I strongly encourage everyone to stop by an early voting location and cast your vote for the city council races. As Tip O’Neill said before “All politics are local” and this really is the case in this election. All you need is your drivers license to vote. The list of polling places is listed at the Bexar County Elections Office. Early voting will end on Tuesday of next week. As we say in Texas, vote early and vote often.
First day figures came out for early voting yesterday and it appears San Antonio is once again headed for a dismal turnout for the municipal elections. According to the yesterday’s figures early voting on the first day was only 198 votes more than in 2005. At 3,598 the number increased by only 6% from 2005. This is pretty low considering the fact that in 2005 48% of the voters voted early compared with 60% in 2007. In the 2008 Presidential election 79% of the voters voted in early voting. So with trends indicating more voters tend to vote early a 6% increase doesn’t track well to top 2005 numbers. Read more…
This week started early voting for municipal elections across Texas, including San Antonio. The dates are from April 27th to May 5th with hours and locations listed by the Bexar County Election Department. The date for the general election is scheduled for May 9th, a Saturday. With this many options to vote there is really no excuse for San Antonians to not vote in the municipal election. Unfortunately a majority of eligible San Antonio residents will not vote in the election. In 2005 the last year of a hotly contested mayoral race only 17.73% of the electorate voted in the election. In 2007 that figure was even worse at 10.16% with an incumbent Mayor Hardberger running for re-election. While early voting doesn’t seem to improve the turnout it could reduce the cost in staging the election. Read more…
On Wednesday the US Supreme Court will focus its attention on an Austin garage and the role it is playing in one of the most significant voting rights lawsuits in recent history. The case, Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District v. Holder (08-322), will test “the constitutionality of Congress’ 25-year extension of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965″ according to SCOTUSblog. At stake is the “preclearance requirement” that forbids nine states and nearly six dozen counties with histories of racial voting discrimination from making changes to their election laws without receiving approval from the DOJ or a panel of three federal judges in Washington. The case is predicted to be the most significant civil rights case before the Court in recent history. Read more…
The Burnt Orange Report and Off the Kuff posted about a recent poll conducted by Annise Parker’s mayoral campaign that listed her in the lead in the Houston mayoral race. In comments about the poll the subject of name recognition came up several times. An analysis memo provided by Rindy Miller Media claimed that the name recognition alone garnered Parker a one to two million dollar advantage over her challengers. While that may seem a little overstated it does beg the question about how much value name recognition plays in a campaign these days. Read more…
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