We know you’ve heard this a bajillion-million times, but this year’s election on November 4, 2014, is VERY important. Particularly for Downtown Austin, as the new 10-1 district system has the potential to really adversely affect policies that support a vibrant and growing downtown.
First things first – when, where, and how to vote:
When
The actual election is November 4, 2014, but EARLY VOTING starts Monday, October 20, 2014, (prompting some discussion between Jude and I as to what the real difference is between early voting and just regular voting). Early voting runs through Halloween this year.
Where
Early Voting Locations: Oddly, there are no stations officially defined as “Early Voting” stations in downtown proper (weird, huh?) – but there are some MOBILE Voting locations downtown for Early Voting (sheesh – confusing, I know) – here are a few:
- Mon 10/20/14 THROUGH Fri 10/31/14, 8am-7pm: Mobile Voting Station at ACC Rio Grande (1212 Rio Grande) – no voting station on Sun 10/26, and hours are 9am-6pm on Sat 10/25
- Tues 10/21/14, 1pm-3pm: Mobile Voting station at Lakeside Senior Center (85 Trinity)
- Mon 10/27/14 THROUGH Fri 10/31/14, 7am-7pm: Mobile Voting station at Austin City Hall (301 W 2nd)
- Tues 10/28/14, 8am-5pm: Mobile Voting station at Travis County Commissioner’s Court (700 Lavaca)
- Wed, 10/29/14 & Thurs 10/30/14, 8am-5pm: Mobile Voting station at HM Sweatt Travis County Courthouse (1000 Guadalupe)
- Fri, 10/31/14, 8am-5pm: Mobile Voting station at the Sam Houston Building (201 E 14th St)
On November 4th:
- Austin City Hall (301 W 2nd) – 7am-7pm
- ACC Rio Grande (1212 Rio Grande) – 7am-7pm
Here’s a LIST of all the mobile voting locations, sorted by date. For a comprehensive map of ALL Early Voting, Mobile Voting, and Election Day Voting locations – click here.
How
Now, as to the ballot itself – we won’t go into every race, in the interest of everyone’s sanity, but, we will give an overview to a couple of the downtown-related / pertinent issues:
There’s the General Gubernatorial ballot which has things like US Representatives, State Representatives, Judges, and County offices….
Then, there’s the CITY Ballot which will have some very important races for Downtown on it:
- For District 9 (the district which includes downtown Austin), we personally support Chris Riley. The Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association also supports this candidate.
- For Proposition 1 (the “rail bond”), while there is quite a bit of debate about this bond, we think it’s important to note that the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association has given $4,000 in funds to the Let’s Go Austin political action committee, who has campaigned to support the bond. The Downtown Austin Alliance and the Austin American Statesman also support Prop 1.
Also, here’s a handy dandy tool you can use to remind your friends to Go Vote!
-A
Downtown Austinites: let’s not let all those suburbanites and public-transportation-haters foist a Red Line 2.0 disaster on us that purposely avoids where people currently live and work in order to subsidize speculative development in areas that have limited opportunity for good urban development of the sort that has happened in downtown Austin and in the UT west campus area.
Demand a good system like the year 2000 plan that was defeated by the outsiders (Williamson County, suburban “conservatives”) who then tricked Austin into supporting the Red Line disaster that effectively subsidizes Cedar Park with millions of Austinite dollars.
Downtown residents tempted to support Proposition 1 should be aware that the actual transit community is nearly universally opposing, because its low ridership, meaning high operating subsidies, will make it the next Red Line – leading to cuts in bus service and certainly no more rail lines (despite the aspirational dotted lines you see on the map).