November election drawing low numbers

County Clerk Paulette Williams is concerned and she has a reason to be.

"We don't have any voters," she said.

The first day there were only 13 voters and the second day only 11 showed up at the polls - a worrisome number indeed for voter turnout.

"We knew that there would be a lighter turnout and that's why we consolidated our voting locations," Williams said.

But she was not prepared for these dismal numbers.

She's not alone. Counties across the state are reporting similar numbers.

"It's like planning for a party and no one shows up," she said, except taxpayers are on the hook for the expense of the election.

In years past, a quick look at voting patterns show in the off-year elections, the early voting and Election Day voting are typically 50/50 on the number of votes cast.

"During the presidential election," she said, "early voting was closer to two-thirds and only one-third on election day."

There are two other elections grabbing attention in the county.

Both the city of Devers and Emergency Services District No. 3 are both hosting a tax election to help boost their coffers, but outside of those two, the ballot for most in the county is focused solely on the constitutional amendments being proposed.

Devers wants to increase its sales and use tax from 1 percent to 1.5 percent.

Denny Loonam, president of ESD No. 3, said this was a critical election for their district.

"We were originally a Rural Fire District and could only collect three cents per $100 valuation," he said. "About 10 years ago, we switched over to and Emergency Services District that allows us to go up to 10 cents."

Loonam said it would help them meet their bills and budget.

"It's so tight right now," he said. "We have 54 square miles to protect and the population is growing."

They've been operating off the same budget for a number of years and can't afford to buy a new fire truck. Recently, they purchased a 2002 fire truck for $65,000, a lot of money for the small department.

"It takes a lot of money to operate an ESD and we contract with West Lake for the fire services," Loonam said.

Just to outfit a single firefighter with the proper equipment can cost upwards to $10,000 per man.

"We survive, but we have to do something," he said feeling hopeless.

The full volunteer department covers geographically three miles out of Dayton on FM 1409, 460 south to the county line and the Trinity River to 146.

The new growth coming to the Dayton area will mostly be built in Dayton's district in the first phase, but the second phase will be in the West Lake, ESD No. 3 district.

"We'll have the south part of the district," he said.

Without fire hydrants, and limited certification with their firefighters, the ISO number that is used by insurance providers to determine fire insurance for residents in the district is higher than normal.

"These funds, we hope, will help provide us the ability to send them to fire school, purchase better equipment for the fire department, and other items that will help us lower that number and bring taxpayers a lower insurance rate," he said.

Loonam, who has been with the department for 40 years, said the funds were necessary and hoped that the public would come out and support them in the election.

Voting locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through the rest of early voting and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the last day, Friday, Nov. 3.

The precincts have been consolidated from 30 to 7 and to see a list of those, please visit the county website and look under the Election Info tab.

If one of the precincts has been consolidated into another location, a notice on the door of the former location will be posted informing voters on where they need to go.

Williams said that all 30 precinct locations would be open for the March primaries in 2018.

Here's a list of the proposed constitutional amendments.

PROPOSITION 1

"The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide fo an exemption from ad valorem taxation of part of the market value of the residence homestead of a partially disabled veteran or the surviving spouse of a partially disabled veteran if the residence homestead was donated to the disabled veteran by a charitable organization for less than the market value of the residence homestead and harmonizing certain related provisions of the Texas Constitution."

PROPOSITION 2

"The constitutional amendment to establish a lower amount for expenses that can be charged to a borrower and removing certain financing expense limitations for a home equity loan, establishing certain authorized lenders to make a home equity loan, changing certain options for the refinancing of home equity loans, changing the threshold for an advance of a home equity line of credit, and allowing home equity loans on agricultural homesteads."

PROPOSITION 3

"The constitutional amendment limiting the service of certain officeholders appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate after the expiration of the person's term of office."

PROPOSITION 4

"The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to require a court to provide notice to the attorney general of a challenge to the constitutionality of a state statute and authorizing the legislature to prescribe a waiting period before the court may enter a judgment holding the statute unconstitutional."

PROPOSITION 5

"The constitutional amendment on professional sports team charitable foundations conducting charitable raffles."

PROPOSITION 6

"The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of all or part of the market value of the residence homestead of the surviving spouse of a first responder who is killed or fatally injured in the line of duty."

PROPOSITION 7

"The constitutional amendment relating to legislative authority to permit credit unions and other financial institutions to award prizes by lot to promote savings."

To read the full text of the proposed constitutional amendments, visit the Liberty County website at www.co.liberty.tx.us and click on the Election Information tab on the left side of the page.

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