A Very Important Message from Dr. Laura Pressley!
MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS ARE AT RISK OF PERMANENT TAKEOVER
“Everyone,
A really dangerous election bill SB742 has hit. See the email below to Drew Tedford, Chief of Staff for Senator Hughes and the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee.
We don't want elections administrators to have monopolies over all elections over all the political subdivisions of their counties. Right now all political subdivisions (cities, schools, political parties, water boards, etc.) have the choice of what voting system, supplier, and who they contract with for their elections. These two dangerous bills remove that choice and will dictate and lock everyone into only one contract with their county election administrator.
Please respond to Drew yourself and forward to others to weigh in on the dangers of SB742. You might consider discussing the level of personal trust you have with your county elections office.
Blessings,
Laura…”
ALSO
“Dear Drew,
Hope you are doing well.
Wanted to let you know we noticed Senator Middleton has filed SB742, companion bill to Representative Paul's HB1306, which mandates all political subdivisions must contract with the county election administrator to use their voting system equipment for their elections.
We do not support these bills that remove the choice of what voting systems and entities that political subdivision may contract with for their elections. Given the degree of mistrust in our election administrators and systems around the state, this is a draconian attempt to remove any local control that currently exists.
There are examples around the state that municipalities have chosen to not contract with the county and run their elections with hand written ballots when there has been problems with their election administrator (Fredericksburg recently). Several Republican Party Executive Committee's have considered not contracting with their county's election administrator (Travis RPT and Dallas RPT) especially when the administrator's performance includes questionable or illegal procedures.
We want to maintain that political subdivisions operate within a free market system, that if they choose, can contract with the best elections provider and system available in Texas. This will ensure best performance for everyone.
We hope you and Senator Hughes see the dangers of dictating that all political subdivisions must be locked into contracting with only one entity, their county election administrator, for their elections. Monopolies within counties breed corruption and choices must be maintained. Call if you have any questions.
Blessings,
Laura…”
Dr. Pressley’s recent revelation is MAJOR and happens to hit right where TBTX has been lurking with a new project. We were right over target.
TAKING BACK TEXAS is announcing what we have been working on for a while, an initiative dubbed the MUNICIPAL PAPER PROJECT. See below for a brief description of our effort. This project needs your help! We have a dwindling window in 2023 to achieve this, but future elections are at stake as well and we may as well prepare while we can. This is a proposal you should take to your City Council.
TBTX, Dr. Pressley, and TEXAS needs your help! YOU can help bring back a 100% paper, hand-counted process to your own municipal elections! Get your friends and rally your local precinct chairs to assist you in this initiative!
In Municipal elections (ISDs, City Councils, etc) the City Secretary is responsible for the administration of the elections. The Mayor of your city has the authority to order a City Council position and a School Board position, or any other election ordered simultaneously for any political subdivision he has authority over, to appear on the same ballot in a municipal election cycle. Often cities are contracting with their County for assistance with the elections, which includes use of fully computerized voting systems. These contracts between cities and counties are required to be submitted 62 days prior to the proposed election day, at the latest. This contract is what we need your help asking the City Council of YOUR hometown to abandon in favor of this Municipal Paper Project proposal. In short: We want our cities and school board elections administered locally, on paper and without the influence or dependence on the county’s computerized voting systems, which have been called into question.
The City Secretary and Mayor, along with City Council are key to administering municipal elections without the assistance of the County’s machines. Certain municipalities may have purchased their own equipment for use. These city councils can still be approached about his project, however more information is needed.
Please submit a Public Information Act Request to your City Secretary for information on the last time your city conducted its own municipal elections, without the assistance of the County’s computerized voting systems.
Once you have found out which year your city last administered their own elections, please submit a Public Information Act Request for the expense report, all bids and awards for the cost of that year’s municipal election cycle. In this same Request, please ask to be provided with the total number of registered voters in your city, as well as the full voter turnout total from that year. From these totals (Total Cost / Total Active Voters) you should be able to determine roughly the cost per voter of administering the election. Basically, the cost per vote. We will need to compare this rough estimate to the rough estimate of the cost of modern elections using similar data.
Finally please submit a request for the data on the projected costs for this year, or the next cycle, of your city’s municipal elections. Knowing the costs will help shape and boost the feasibility of our proposal.
TakingBackTexas.org - January 2022
takingtxback@gmail.com
MUNICIPAL PAPER PROJECT
OVERVIEW
This project is a non-partisan exercise in Trust in the administration of private party elections. Constituents and members of ALL political subdivisions deserve clean, simple and secure elections. We wish to show one way or another that using paper ballots and hand-counting the results while voting in-precinct will help to restore voter’s confidence in the administration of local elections. After numerous issues were identified and investigated since the 2020 presidential elections, voter confidence in the results and processes in place are at an all-time low. Due to a declining sense of trust, we believe that the voter turn-out for future elections could be at risk of plummeting.