Special to the NEWS
The only polling place for this Saturday’s election for mayor and two commissioners is the San Benito Community Building at 210 E. Heywood Street.
The City elections have been consolidated into one area, according to City Secretary Lupita Passement. Officials said this allows for a more efficient and seamless voting process, cuts expenses and centralizes the election headquarters. As a result, the traditional polling stations at Fred Booth Elementary School and the Fire Station will not be used. Instead, voters in Precinct 18 and 22, who cast their ballots at the Fire Station, will also vote at the centrally-located Community Building. Precinct 40 voters, formerly at Fred Booth Elementary, will also vote in the Community Building.
“Likewise, voters from precincts 19, 21 and 50, who previously voted at the Community Building, will continue to vote to cast their ballots there,” Passement said.
“The official notice of the Polling Place location was published as a legal notice in the San Benito News on April 13 in English and Spanish, but still many voters may not be aware of the change,” she said. As an added measure to alert the public to the change, signage will be posted at Fred Booth Elementary, and a notice was posted on the LED digital billboard on Business 77 at the Resaca.
The consolidation will allow election officials to count the votes more quickly and without having to move from one location to another, officials added. “It is a better way to maintain control over the voting process,” Passement said.
Voting begins at 7 a.m. and concludes at 7 p.m.
For more information, call (956) 361-3800.
1 comments
Maybe they had to consolidate to one voting location since the city gave up half its ETJ!
Funny, isn’t it — not in a ‘haha’ way, but a sadly pathetic way — that our polling locations have been reduced, our Extra-territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) has been reduced, but our administration has gotten larger, our city fleet has gotten larger while our sales tax revenue lags behind most every other city in The Valley.
The ETJ, of which I write, is a two-mile radius surrounding cities approximately our size and granted by the legislature up in Austin, so that cities like ours can have some control over neighboring areas that touch its borders so that these neighboring areas don’t threaten the health, safety and general wellbeing of the citizens of a city. In an ETJ, a city provides trash and sewer services, code enforcement, and police and fire services. This commission, in 2013, against the advice of Planning and Zoning, gave back to the county half the ETJ that has existed as part of our city for several generations.
Under this commission and administration since 2011, the city has taken on the expense of an additional Assistant City Manager whose responsibilities, ironically, is overseeing Police, Fire, Code Enforcement, Public Safety and Health — the very reason the ETJ exists! What is the purpose of incurring the expense of an additional Assistant Manager if the city cannot manage what has been managed for decades in the past with one assistant?
Now the City Secretary claims to have streamlined the voting process by eliminating polling locations and consolidating down to one. What about the inconvenience to the citizens without whom the administration and commission would not exist? Is it really streamlined, or is it calculated to inconvenience and discourage voters accustomed to voting at Fred Booth and the Firehouse, who might not be inclined to vote for the incumbents?
This administration has grown out of control and this commission has allowed it at the expense of safeguarding our tax dollars. If only our sales tax revenue would have grown at the same rate as this administration! We have managers with assistants; assistants with assistants. Since 2011, the legal budget has more than doubled, the City Commission travel budget has skyrocketed, our debt load has increased $11+MILLION, and our streets still scream for attention!!!
There is nothing streamlined about this election process or this administration. What we have are administrators too tired or lazy — or both. We have Commissioners without a clue how to manage an operation of this size so they approve management’s every request. We need a clean sweep in City Hall of those who are holding us back.
There’s still time to vote. Please get out and vote.