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Election Day

Yes, it is that time of year again - election day. This will be my first time voting in Texas (3rd state I have ever voted in), which should be interesting. It is difficult to learn about all of the crazy local politics, especially without any reliable sources for political endorsements that I can turn to. I miss California's thick voter information booklets! The big local paper seems to only endorse republicans (for democratic-dominated districts like mine, they just don't offer an endorsement), and the free weekly paper doesn't even give endorsements. And there are a ton of offices to vote for - judges, justices, constables, clerks, commissioners - it is like they want to make it too tough to think about, so you should just go with a straight-party ticket instead of reading up on all 89 (I think - hard to count them all) offices. Of coure, a fair number of the judges are running unopposed if they are Republican.

They don't even make it that easy to vote. First, you need to register at least 6 weeks in advance of the election. Then, they send you a Voter Registration Certificate, which you are supposed to bring with to the polling place. Where is your polling place? Well, you need to go online and look it up, or call the 800 number, since it is not printed on the Voter Registration Certificate. How could this be any easier!

And this doesn't even include the bond measures. It seems strange to vote on bond measures in a place where I will probably not be around to see any of the impact (positive or negative) of the outcome. Plus, the bonds are grouped into 12 separate ballot measures, each containing a large number of different projects. It is over $1 billion in bonds they want to issue; it makes me rethink how ineffective the San Francisco city government is. (Maybe I am just biased by the FBI investigations of a significant number of city council members?)

Anyways, my thanks to the League of Women Voters of Dallas for getting some information about the candidates out there. I'm hoping that tomorrow evening is a happy one...