Travis County Commssioners Court
July 22, 2003
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Item 37
Now, dana. 37 is consider and take appropriate action on the early voting and mobile sights for the September 13, 2003 constitutional election.
>> thank you, judge. What we are doing today is you are taking a look at the proposed plan for early voting which begins August 28th for the September 13th election. You have -- if you approve the plan today, what the county clerk will do is submit an agenda request to turn to you on -- return to you August 5th giving the county attorney the opportunity to prepare orders according to your decision today. Let me walk you through your packet real quick. On the first page you have the list of what we call the permanent early voting locations. On the second page you have a list of the mobile voting locations. And then the subsequent pages are the breakdown demonstrating we are more than in compliance with the law for equal -- equitable distribution of said voting sites. This plan is typical of one we use for our smaller elections. There is one big change and one little change I want to advise you about. The big change is we have lost Barton Creek mall. We're sad that our dear friends have asked us to leave. They've asked some other folks to leave too. So we bid them farewell and thank them for their long service to Travis County. And in their place, not exactly in the same neighborhood, but a very high traffic location, the home depot on brodie lane has agreed to host us for early voting, and they also will allow us to be inside the store. So it's, you know, we really appreciate home depot, the merchant, for allowing us in. The second smaller change is that instead of having a permanent site at the university of Texas for this particular election, we have pulled that out. It saves money and resources. We are visiting campuses on one of our mobile locations in u.t. And u.t. Will be one of those sites we visit.
>> that was historically one of our --
>> the kids like to vote for governor, president and they really don't -- not anything else. So for city elections and these kinds of elections, we have started just recently not just go u.t. To save money.
>> but for presidential they will be back.
>> that's your call, but we would presume you would want to.
>> folks who would like to receive a copy of these recommendations should call the county clerk's office or any member of the Commissioners court. Move approval. Any more discussion?
>> dana, I really want to work with this h.e.b. Thing. I mean northwest, even though we found [inaudible] at canyon creek and it was a place to vote, we know it got murdered with the turnout. And something is not right when we can have three h.e.b. Locations in Austin and not have, you know, a spot where we know that we are going to get optimum turnout.
>> I would welcome your help. We hrofp h.e.b. And they have been good to us. I tell you that they wanted to terminate all relationships with me and the only reason they couldn't was because of the voting rights act. The federal law in the minority neighborhoods. That's why it appears to be a discrepancy to you.
>> well, I mean that is so unfortunate to hear.
>> I know.
>> it would be a fabulous location.
>> it was a good location. The four points h.e.b.
>> well, you can see -- I mean you've got -- you basically take one part of town and you allow it and another part of town it's not allowed. That is absolutely not right. It's not fair in this community, it's not fair to the people of northwest that they don't have a place to vote like that. And I would almost be willing to say, well, I mean fine, then we need to go to -- or we need to go to federal government and say then we'll find another location if we're not going to use h.e.b. That's not what we want to do, but I will work with you because --
>> you are welcome.
>> I know. I know, but we've got to push, you know, we've got to push as hard as we can on this because this is really -- this is absolutely not fair. It is not a location where we are even going to begin to expect the number to vote northwest that we need.
>> well, the only thing I can say in support of what you are saying is that h.e.b. Has been pushed by many people, and they have been very good to us. The only thing I could say is perhaps you can be more charming.
>> I realize what you are saying and I’m not trying to beat a dead horse, but it smells in the community and that's not something that you want. You know, there --
>> or anything I can do anything about.
>> I know. Except for the fact somebody comes up and says you know what, if it's not fair for one maybe it's not fair for anybody else and you know what we need to do, we need to find three other locations other than h.e.b. They tell you you've got to do something in a particular area.
>> yes, but the reason why h.e.b., They allowed this situation is because in the -- those poorer neighborhoods, there is nothing. That's why we got into this. There is no other facility or other place to go. That's the problem. But I certainly welcome your help, your input, your persuasion, all of that.
>> and Commissioner, we had the same frustration, in fact the minute that h.e.b. Opened out there because that was part of my old area, we got in there. And it was a huge blow when we couldn't get back out. But it was a huge equal blow we're no longer in central market in central city Austin. If you look at what's going on with precinct 2, basically a centralized area, but Pflugerville, we've got pretty decent coverage in Pflugerville -- and to tell somebody you have to go to the university of Texas to vote, get real, there is no parking over there, or say you have to come down to the courthouse --
>> which we're required to have. I would change that too if I could.
>> it's not a good situation. Thank goodness we got back into northcross mall. That helps a lot, but that really is more northern as opposed to more central. Central is really out as well. I share your frustration related to the h.e.b. Situation.
>> anything else? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you.
Last Modified: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 6:52 PM