RandySF
RandySF's JournalAll 10 propositions in Dallas' $1.25 billion bond package approved
Dallas elected officials asked voters how much of the $1.25 billion bond package should be approved. And their answer? According to voting returns late Saturday night, the answer was the entire package.
Dallas residents strongly supported all ten propositions in Saturday's election. That's after some projects received opposition from some community members — like the $50 million earmarked for a new police training facility in southern Dallas.
The debt issuance will be spent on projects like fixing streets and roads, maintaining city facilities and developing more housing.
“The people of Dallas have spoken once again tonight, and their answer remains the same,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said during an election night celebration. “They’ve once again said yes to public safety, they’ve once again said yes to the basics and they’ve once again said yes to quality neighborhood parks.”
https://www.keranews.org/news/2024-05-04/dallas-voters-approve-1-25-billion-bond-package-park-arts-housing
California Supreme Court will weigh removal of 'Taxpayer Protection Act' from ballot. Here's why
The state’s Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case this week that could determine whether Californians are allowed to weigh in on an expansive ballot measure that would put virtually all tax increases before voters.
It’s part of a rare case in which the court will consider removing a proposition from the ballot before an election. At issue is whether the sweeping ballot measure, known by its supporters as the “Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act,” is a constitutional amendment or a constitutional revision.
The business-backed initiative would mandate that voters sign off on all new tax increases, both at the state and local level. If approved by voters, the initiative would also reclassify many government fees as taxes and require any tax increase enacted since 2022 to comply with the new requirements.
https://2urbangirls.com/2024/05/california-supreme-court-will-weigh-removal-of-taxpayer-protection-act-from-ballot-heres-why/
Coalition asks court to block Alabama ballot harvesting bill
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A coalition of civil, voting and disability rights groups filed an injunction Friday to halt the state of Alabama from enforcing its new absentee ballot application law, signed by Gov. Kay Ivey in March.
Among the first bills introduced in the 2024 legislative session, Senate Bill 1 was an effort, supporters say, to prohibit the practice of ballot application harvesting, which is the collecting and submitting absentee applications on behalf of others.
The law prohibits this practice by creating severe criminal charges for those who pay or receive payment to assist another person with an absentee ballot application. For instance, it is now a Class B felony for an Alabamian to pay another person for assistance with their application, punishable with up to 20 years in prison.
Those same rights groups first sued the state over the ballot harvesting law in April, but Friday filed a proposed injunction in the hopes that the law’s implementation could be paused until Oct. 29 of this year, the last day to apply for an absentee ballot by mail for the 2024 general election.
https://aldailynews.com/coalition-asks-court-to-block-alabama-ballot-harvesting-bill/
TX: Moderates win decisive victory for control of North East ISD school board
The high-stakes — and high-dollar — trustee election for the North East Independent School District returned San Antonio’s second largest school district to a solid moderate board majority.
Voters gave decisive victories to all five moderate candidates on the ballot, ending a year of stalemates between three moderate and three conservative trustees, and likely bringing years of heated debate over culture war issues like masks, library books and curriculum down to a simmer.
The divided board was unable to agree on who to appoint to the board after their colleague Terri Williams died in August, requiring them to place her seat on the ballot alongside the four usual trustee races.
Conservatives would have only needed to win two of the five races in order to gain the board majority. Right-wing trustees already hold the only two seats not up for election this year.
https://www.tpr.org/education/2024-05-04/moderates-win-decisive-victory-for-control-of-north-east-isd-school-board
TX: Democrat-backed candidates sweep first Travis County appraisal election
hree candidates backed by the local Democratic Party won seats to the Travis Central Appraisal District’s board of directors, who help manage property appraisals.
Jett Hanna, Shenghao 'Daniel' Wang and Dick Lavine soundly defeated three others backed by the local Republican Party on Saturday, including Matt Mackowiak, chair of the party in Travis County, and Don Zimmerman, a former Austin City Council member.
While the 4-year, volunteer positions are officially nonpartisan, the local parties helped candidates campaign.
“I look forward to helping all the people of Travis County understand this complicated tax system better and to help make sure the rules are followed to ensure transparency, fairness and ethical behavior,” Hanna, who beat Zimmerman in the Place 1 election, said in an email.
https://www.kut.org/politics/2024-05-05/austin-travis-county-property-taxes-tcad-may-4-2024-election-results
Panama Faces Pivotal Presidential Election Amidst Controversy
Panamanians began voting today in general elections stirred by the controversial former president Ricardo Martinelli, whose protégé is the favorite to win the presidency of a country burdened by corruption and a grim economic and social outlook.
Lines of voters formed early at polling centers, which opened at 07:00 local time with the raising of the flag of Panama at the Electoral Tribunal.
Eight candidates are vying for power, but the focus is on José Raúl Mulino, candidate of the Realizando Metas party (RM, founded by Martinelli), who leads his three closest rivals by about 20 points, according to polls.
Former social democrat president Martín Torrijos, son of General Omar Torrijos who negotiated with Washington the handover of the Panama Canal, and center-right lawyers Rómulo Roux and Ricardo Lombana, are seen as possible surprises.
https://ticotimes.net/2024/05/05/panama-faces-pivotal-presidential-election-amidst-controversy
Lubbock voters reject attempt to end arrests for possessing small amounts of marijuana
LUBBOCK — The green wave some Lubbock residents hoped for didn’t materialize Saturday as voters rejected Proposition A, which would have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana in the city. Nearly 65% of voters rejected the proposal.
The ordinance would have instructed Lubbock police to stop arresting adults for possession of marijuana if they have four ounces or less.
Adam Hernandez, spokesperson for Lubbock Compact, the organization behind the decriminalization efforts, said low voter turnout hurt the proposition.
“We worked hard on it, we had a lot of volunteers,” Hernandez said. “We just weren’t able to get the voter turnout high enough.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/04/lubbock-marijuana-proposition-fails/
LA: Miguez's (R) arguments against ranked-choice voting lean on misinformation
Ranked-choice voting is so dangerous, according to one Louisiana state senator, that no voter should be allowed to use it — except for the tens of thousands of military voters who have used it for years.
Senate Bill 101, sponsored by Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, advanced from the House Judiciary Committee in a 8-1 vote Wednesday and is pending on the House floor for final approval.
Also called “instant runoff” voting, ranked-choice voting forces political candidates to try to appeal to a majority of voters.
To borrow an analogy from a New York Times report, if an election were compared to a group of people trying to choose a vacation spot, the traditional voting method forces voters to make only one choice, no matter how many options — mountains, beach, and big city — are under consideration. With ranked choice, voters get to list their preferences in order: First, the beach, but if no one else votes for the beach, then the mountains, and if not that, then the city.
https://lailluminator.com/2024/05/05/miguezs-arguments-against-ranked-choice-voting-lean-on-misinformation/
The GOP Stealth Plan to Win Over Asian American Voters
When The Daily Beast reported on the plans to make the Republican National Committee “white again” in March, the party was quick to deny that it was deprioritizing voters of color—even though the committee was scrapping plans to open new minority outreach centers.
Since then, there’s been little word about what exactly Republicans have in mind when it comes to attracting voters of color, who have traditionally supported Democrats by wide margins. That’s especially true when it comes to Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters, who make up a small but rapidly growing 6 percent of the electorate.
But sources with knowledge of RNC efforts to win over these voters told The Daily Beast that Republicans aren’t abandoning outreach programs for AAPI voters. They’re actually doubling down—quietly.
“I don’t think they’re deprioritizing anything on this or taking them for granted,” a person knowledgeable about the GOP’s Asian American outreach efforts told the Daily Beast. “The folks on the ground on the Asian side were already set with the former president to be the nominee.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-gop-stealth-plan-to-win-over-asian-american-voters?ref=wrap
Kristi Noem Suggests Biden's Dog Should Have Been Killed, Too
Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, already under fire for killing her family’s 14-month-old dog and boasting about it, on Sunday took aim at another family’s pet: Commander, President Biden’s bite-prone German shepherd.
Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Ms. Noem, a Republican, suggested that Commander, who was banished from the White House last fall after bloodying a number of Secret Service agents, should also have been put down.
“Joe Biden’s dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people,” she told her interviewer, Margaret Brennan. “So how many people is enough people to be attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog?”
Commander was sent to an undisclosed location after the Secret Service recorded 24 biting episodes involving him between October 2022 and July 2023, about half of which required medical attention.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/05/us/politics/kristi-noem-biden-dog.html
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