Posted on 03/20/2006 11:08:29 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
Generally speaking, Americans - and Texans moreso than residents of states more heavily encrusted with tradition - are interested in the past, but tend to be more oriented toward the present and the near future.
But the past may have more staying power than we give it credit for. Consider the swirl of images, memories and emotions evoked by word from Austin that the Texas Secretary of State's office is looking into potential vote fraud in Duval County.
Does this ring a bell? Not necessarily to newcomers to our neighborhood, but to anyone who's been here long enough to gain a feeling for the folkways and usages that have built up around our institutions, it's a real grabber.
Specifically, the secretary of state's office has homed in on the rather remarkable voter turnout recorded in Duval - particularly in contrast with its neighbors. In the March 7 off-year primary, fully 55 percent of Duval's eligible voters reportedly made their way to the polls to register their preferences.
Is that necessarily a bad thing in itself? Of course not. However, turnout statewide was an anemic 10 percent. (The figure for Nueces County was 11 percent.) A spokesman for the secretary of state's office, Scott Haywood, said the agency has received phone calls from Duval "about vote farming and mail ballot fraud."
It's a dreary commentary when a high voter turnout sets alarm bells ringing, but Duval being Duval, the secretary of state's interest is entirely warranted. The old Parr political machine in Duval County, which was linked to the famous Box 13 episode in neighboring Jim Wells County that helped put LBJ in the Senate, just might be reverting to its old form.
4,098 of the total 5,445 primary ballots were early voters and 2,800 of those were by mail!
To be eligible to vote early by mail in Texas, you must:
be 65 years or older;
be disabled;
be out of the county on election day and during the period for early voting by personal appearance; or
be confined in jail, but otherwise eligible.
Wouldn't be surprised if the same people who voted for LBJ then are voting 'absentee' now...and still in alphabetical order, of course.
You left out two of the most important ones:
Being dead and being a Democrat!
4,098 of the total 5,445 primary ballots were early voters and 2,800 of those were by mail!
The article states 55% of the registered voters...
The high turnout was in the local races, deport. I guess they were trying to keep a low profile.
"In local Duval County races, turnout was more than five times the state average, with 5,533, or 55 percent, of the county's 9,839 registered voters turning in the county judge's race and 5,317, or 54 percent, voting in the treasurer's election, according to election returns."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1597452/posts
I knew there was a catch to it,so thats how the dead vote.
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