Travis County Commissioners Court
September 9, 2008
Items 33, 34, and & 36
>> number 30, since we have our county clerk here -- 33, rather, consider and take appropriate action on an order to designate locations and hours for the temporary branch early voting polling places for the mobile early voting program for the November 4, 2008 elections.
>> thank you, judge. Good morning, dana debouvier, Travis County clerk. Get my notes here.
>> I called up 33. Should I call the others up? Some members of the court think you are inclined to put all of them together anyway.
>> I would like to do that if that's all right with you, yes.
>> thank you.
>> a holistic approach.
>> number 34 is consider and take appropriate action regarding an order to designate election day polling places for the November 4, 2008 joint general and special elections.
And 36 is consider and take appropriate action on issues related to the conduct of the November 4, 2008 joint general and special elections. And so we have 33, 34 and 36 before us.
>> wonderful. Thank you very much. You should have received in your packet the plan for the early -- let me start with the early voting program. We talked about it last week. We all get the benefit of having an extra week to consider it. One of the things that we are doing special for this November election is we're adding two mega voting sites. The -- we're concerned that the turnout is going to be huge. We're also tickled pink that the turnout is going to be huge. But we've got people we theodosia to try to take care of and there are going to be a lot of first-time voters in this particular election. So what we're trying to do is make it a little easier for the ones who want to vote. We will have probably in the neighborhood of 440,000 people in Travis County cast a ballot. Starting October 20th and going all the way through. Just as a note, one of the newspaper articles that came out about the mega voting sites, it alluded to the fact that all of our locations would be experiencing late hours. Not true. Not true. We're not funding that. We're only trying to do just the little bit that we think will take care of voters, being really cautious about the money we're spending. The two mega voting sites on the last three days of early voting, the two mega voting sites on the last three days of early voting will be open until 9:00 p.m. The rest of them have their hours as normal.
>> which is what time?
>> I'm sorry?
>> which is until what time?
>> 7:00 p.m. Everybody else is open until 7:00 p.m. And accept for those last three nights, one of which will be halloween, the last night, they will be open to 9:00.
>> that's an interesting opportunity for --
>> well, it is. And Commissioner, I'm kind of hoping that -- I moon I think that's going to happen to some folks is that people do tend to like to vote kind of at the last minute. And I think the early voting, the candy might be colliding with democracy that particular day because I can just hear what people are thinking in their minds, they are thinking I'm going to vote when I get off work and they are going to realize have I the kids and the candy and the front door to answer and so leaving it to that Friday night might end up disrupting your plans. We're trying to make it easier for people to vote early at times that are convenient for them. We will be encouraging in the strongest of terms for people to not wait until the last couple of hours on election day to vote. There are just too many of us and if we try to spread this out, everybody to find a convenient time, we will be able to handle the crowd with the minimum amount of waiting. There will be lines. But we don't want anybody to wait in line more than half an hour at the most. We know that will happen at some point on election day, but if we do everything we can up front to talk people into going a little earlier, it will be better for them because they won't have to wait as long and certainly fewer complaints about people having to wait so long. If you want encourage people to take advantage of early voting, I would greatly appreciate it and I'm sure voters would appreciate good advice on that. Now speaking about election day, there are 22 polling places. So not very many. A very minor amount of polling places whose locations will change from what is typical for the neighborhood precinct on election day. All of these -- all of these polling places have been changed for one of two reasons. Either the previous polling place was simply unavailable, could be construction, could be we got kicked out, don't know. Or, or, and these are the very fewest ones, we have found a location that is a better deal for the voters. Some of our smaller locations, especially some of the elementary schools, are really tiny and with the crowd that we're expecting for election day, they I think could easily get overwhelmed. So in a few places we've worked with the school districts to find a place that will handle a larger crowd, that's still very close by and we will be doing lots of advertising to let voters know that your place has moved. We've only done it if we had to or thought it was a good idea. Otherwise we try to maintain consistency. I'm available to answer questions about that. Commissioner Davis also asked for some information about so how does this cost us and how does our -- how do our partners play into the financing for the election. And I hope you got that, Commissioner. I sent copies to all of you as well. It was overall information, but I think it answers the question that you were looking for. We encourage everybody to go vote early, and thank you again to the Commissioners court for its support. We're very, very excited about what this turnout is going to be.
>> dana, can I direct your attention to exhibit a in item 33?
>> yes, sir.
>> this is a list of early voting sites.
>> I'm getting to it. Yes, sir.
>> and are the mega sites on this one?
>> yes, sir. Let me find them for you.
>>
>> [inaudible].
>> early voting locations for -- that includes a listing of the mega sites. I think the court order before you is just of the sites for the mobile early voting program.
>> so 33-a, exhibit a of item 33, would cover only the mobile voting sites.
>> right. Last week you approved an order that included the other early voting polling sites.
>> move approval of exhibit a on item 33.
>> second.
>> discussion? All in favor. That passes by unanimous vote. Item 34, last week we did not approve the election day locations, right?
>> correct.
>> and so what we have in the backup as exhibit a for item 34 is an updated list of all the election dates polling places?
>> it is.
>> and this list contains updates for the elementary schools that we were trying to move away from.
>> correct. The schools had asked us, and we had gone to them and said we think some of these locations might very well be overwhelmed. So we've worked together with them to find a good place to accommodate voters in their neighborhoods.
>> okay. I move approval of exhibit a on item 34.
>> second, and thanks so much for finding a new place for 423.
>> I do think if voters -- I think they will like the new location better.
>> I think so too.
>> in terms of precinct 2, just a shoutout to anyone watching this late at night if they are channel surfing, lucy reed is at ben hur and timmerman is at the county tax office.
>> we'll be doing advertising for that too, Commissioner to, let everybody know. All right. Just --
>> any more discussion?
>> just one more thing -- I'm sorry.
>> let me play county judge. All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Now, dana.
>> couple of really quick things. One of them is you may notice that we have used the resources of the mobile voting program to fill in for those last few days when we're really expecting the crowds so that's how come we were able to do it cheaply and with people experienced and make the most of the small additional equipment purchase that you made. And second quick item is could I ask you, judge, for us to continue on item 36 for next week as well and keep it a rolling item? In case I need to come back to you with last-minute polling place changes or any other adjustments that we need to make to deal with this election and/or the crowds of people we're expecting.
>> no problem.
>> thank you very much.
>> that does it for us today?
>> that will work.
>> thank you very much.
>> have a nice day.
>> you too.
>> purchasing, what item are you here on?
>>
>> [inaudible].
>> I'm not sure why we didn't put those on consent.
>> I don't either.
>> we just wanted to see your smiling faces.
>> see if you were alert.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 5:05 PM