For now it looks like 3119 is going to stay firmly in Lamar Smith’s District 21. But there is still some adjustments rumored in the areas west of NW Military Hwy along Wurzbach Parkway. For those interested in following the overall redistricting kerfuffle an interactive map is available at this web page District Viewer. Of interest to me is the extension of 21 across IH-10 into the Congressman Gonzales District 20. Sucking up USAA & the Medical Center. Of course this is all in the courts so we don’t know how this is all going to turn out.
Another trip to the polls is here for those of us who represent non-voters by voting regularly. This time it is for Amendment, Joint General, Special and Bond Election which covers eleven propositions for amendments to the Texas Constitution and for a member to San Antonio River Authority Board of Directors. For some reason the Express-News does not yet have a consolidated recommendations page but you can dig them out individually on the editorial page. But to make it a little easier I have put the constitutional amendments in the table below.
This is the usual Bexar Count Elections department link to find polling places and a sample ballot (pdf download) for your precinct. Since this post is for Precinct 3119 here is our link.
Early voting is on 24 October to 4 November, and Brookhollow Library on Hiemer, the Cody Library on Vance Jackson are the closest early voting places for this year. Further out are the Shavano Park city hall at 900 Saddle Tree Ct. and the Olmos Basin Golf Club House by the Quarry shopping center could be considered to be in reach.
Early voting for the 2010 mid terms is upon us. So here are my Precinct 3119 voter aids. Early voting runs 18 to 29 October.
This is the usual Bexar Count Elections department link to find polling places and a sample ballot (pdf download) for your precinct.
Over the years I have created spreadsheets from the ballots and uploaded them, with my choices, to my PDA. Then when I go to the polls I have a easy reference for remembering who I have settled on to mark my ballot.
I have extracted the 3119 ballot and, if you are interested you can download the result from these links.
For those MSoft Excel people this will download a 97-2003 format (.xls) sheet. Download Election201011_3119Vote
For those rebels who do not do Microsoft here is a Open Doc (*.ods) format. Download Election201011_3119Vote
Check out the Express-News on-line Politics portal their coverage and endorsements. I have found the Wiki page Texas gubernatorial election 2010 an excellent starting point for the minutia of the Governor’s contest, however you have to use the Index to get to General elections section.
For any dedicated voter who stumbles across this page, looking for help on the down ballot races, I’ll leave you to your own expertise to conduct internet searches with your favorite search engine. For the minor offices finding campaign web sites can be a bit tricky. I’ve discovered that searching for the candidates name in Facebook will give you a quicker leg up finding candidate sponsored sites than relying strictly on Google searches.
So get out and vote remembering that every one of you will also be representing around eight other voters who will decline to exercise their right to vote. (Based on the turnouts reported in the primary)
The 2010 election cycle is beginning with party primaries on 2 March 2010. The Early voting begins 16 February (the day after Presidents Day Holiday) and continues until 26 February.
Links to Democratic & Republican generic ballots (pdf) are on the Bexar County Elections home page. These are links to websites for the Republicans and Democrats where you can review spins of each party.
This is the usual Bexar Count Elections department link to find polling places and a sample ballot (pdf download) for your precinct. Since this post is for Precinct 3119 here are our links for the Dems & for the Republicans
Over the years I have created spreadsheets from the ballots and uploaded them, with my choices, to my PDA. Then when I go to the polls I have a easy reference for remembering who I have settled on to mark my ballot.
I have extracted the contested races for March 2010 from each 3119 ballot and, if you are interested you can download the result from these links
For those MSoft Excel people this will download a 97-2003 format (.xls) sheet. Download ContestedRaces_3119.xls
For those rebels who do not do Microsoft here is a Open Doc (*.ods) format. Download ContestedRaces_3119.ods
Republicans will also be faced with voting on five ballot propositions that range across social landscape. I have to admit that the value of these propositions taking up space on the ballot is lost on me.
Check out the Express-News on-line Politics portal their coverage and endorsements. I have found the Wiki page Texas gubernatorial election 2010 an excellent starting point for the minutia of the Governor’s contest, including links to candidate websites, commentary, and endorsements. For the other offices finding the campaign web sites can be a bit tricky. I’ve discovered using searching for the candidates name in Facebook will give you a quicker leg up finding candidate sponsored sites than relying strictly on Google searches.
All eleven proposed amendments to the Texas constitution passed with overwhelming margins. The closest results was for proposition 5 (Authorize Single Board of Equalization for Two or More Authorities) where the vote was 30,007 for and 21,113 against. The turnout was low with 53,208 or 6.01% of the 885,093 registered voters bothering to show up.
Wired Magazine reports in a 27 October article that Sequoia Voting Systems plans to publicly release the source code for its new optical scan voting system. The new voting system is to be made available for public public review in November according to the company's web site. Wired makes point in the article that this announcement by Sequoia came only five days after the Open Source Digital Voting Foundation (OSDV) announced the availability of source code for its prototype election system. Wired observes that this is quite a change in Sequoia's attitude on revealing it's source code to the public.
In today's (27 Oct 2009) Washington Post is a story, by Karen DeYoung, about the resignation of Matthew Hoh from his position as Senior Civilian Representative of Zabul Province, Afghanistan. The story is a long one, 4 internet pages, and has already garnered 778 comments in the half day it has been online. Be sure to follow the embedded links to the PDF of Mr. Hoh's resignation letter. Below is the lede from the article.
"When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan.
A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed."
I strongly urge everyone to read beyond the first page of the Post article where quotes from Mr. Hoh elaborates on the points made in his resignation letter.
For those voters of San Antonio precinct 3119 we should consider ourselves representatives of our neighbors who do not vote. In the November 2008 election each of the 1922 who cast a ballot was the de facto representative for 2 of the other 2936 registered voters in our precinct. Sorry for the late report but I hadn't realized I had forgotten to make this post when the data became available. Well I actually drafted one up but never posted it.
This Foreign Policy post by Steve Coll is a long read but well worth it during this time of policy review at the National Level.
The Case for Humility in Afghanistan
A Taliban victory would have devastating consequences for U.S. interests. But to avoid disaster, America must beware the Soviet Union’s mistakes -- and learn from its own three decades of failure in South Asia.
The thrust of the article is that the US needs to focus on stablizing the AFPak area and accepting that the resultant governments in Afghanistan and Pakistan may not be to the liking of any political faction in the U.S. He refers to Philippines, Colombia and Indonesia as models of what the U.S. should be building to. He recognizes the U.S.tactics in Afhganistan would be different than the tactics for Pakistan.
This interview of Major General Nick Carter, published in the 18 September 2009 on-line Guardian, provides a UIK view of the Coalition's prospects in Afghanistan. General Carter asserts a need to show 'positive trends' as quickly as possible.
Time running out to tackle Taliban in Afghanistan, British general warns
The interview by Richard Norton-Taylor and David Batty is a bit lengthy but well worth a serious read