Burnt Orange Report

Gillespie County Votes (or tries to)

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

There have been some new developments since I last posted a story about the State of Elections back home (for me) in Gillespie County (which is 70 miles west of Austin, you know, Fredericksburg, the Hill Country).

From a late January e-mail from the Democratic County Chair...

Remember that the Secretary of State had allocated $1,243.25 to the Gillespie County Chair to conduct the March 9, 2004, Democratic Primary. We were told "Please be advised that no additional funds will be disbursed after the maximum amount of funds allowed have been issued."

You might also remember that I didn't listen and submitted a budget for $4,800.00 due to the fact that we wanted to increase the polling places from one at St. Joseph's Hall in Fredericksburg to four, including this one. It's clear that people don't vote if you don't make it easy for them. We had a pledge for $2,000 from an anonymous donor, but that still left us short about $1,600. I appealed to the Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State and the Comptroller as well as to Texas Democratic Party. The answer was "there is no more money."

From a second e-mail...

We received approval for our needed funds from the Secretary of State. Fortunately we had already started putting our election plans in place for the upcoming Primary. The three new voting locations will make it much easier for rural voters to have a betteropportunity to vote in the March 9 Primary.

There are three NEW polling spots, as well as retaining St. Joseph's Hall in Fredericksburg. Judges, Alternate Judges and Clerks are ready to go.

Good thing. Now we can abide by the law by having the mandatory one voting location per county commission precinct. I am thankful that someone somewhere in the Secretary of State's office realized this and fully funded us.

Another great thing is that we have had about 25 volunteers offer to help run the March 9 primary, more than needed which is a nice change from the statement made in this article...

Tommie Skipper, a former Gillespie County Democratic chairman, said sufficient funding is only half the battle.

"It's hard to even get anybody to work at the polls," said Skipper, 72, of the hourly jobs with wages of $7 for trained staffers and $5.15 for first-time workers.

But another good point was brought up by our County Chair...

Some people have asked why we didn't share the existing polling locations with the Republicans? The answer is just what you might expect. [Your] County Chairman, George Keller and President Frank Beal met with the Republican County Chair (Pauline Cusack) who refused to share sites even though it caused us to spend more of the state's limited money.

Oh, well, we should be proud the Democratic Party is the party of fiscal responsibility. It is evident the Republicans are not by both there refusal to share locations and in the National deficit projected to be almost $600 BILLION next year.

Is there any logical reason to stonewall on voting locations? No. In Texas, the primaries do get public funding to pay workers and voting locations so it's not as if these are separate Party functions. But it's not just Gillespie County...more from George...

The focus now has to be on getting out the vote. We have outstanding candidates on the Democratic ballot. There will also be two referenda on the ballot, one to stop unfunded mandates and one to prevent any negative changes to Medicare. The State Republican Party rejected putting them on their ballot.

Because it would look silly if Texas Republican voters showed that that they wanted to fund their own President's proposals.