Tuesday November 5th was Election Day in Texas. Voters were asked to make decisions on a series of statewide propositions, as well as several local bond issues and a few contested races. For Marfa Public Radio, Tom Michael reports.
Turnout was low across the region. In Presidio County, for example, only 3 percent of registered voters participated in the election. In Martin County, a school board election race was decided by 12 votes. Alfredo Ramierez with 8 supporters, defeated Danny Peugh who had 4 votes, in the Grady School Board race.
Despite statewide passage of the constitutional amendments, the residents of West Texas counties were not unanimous in their support of all nine propositions.
Proposition 3, which was to extend the number of days that aircraft parts are exempt from ad valorem tax failed in the counties of Martin, Jeff Davis, Presidio, and Brewster. And Proposition 5, which allows seniors to take advantage of reverse mortgage loans when purchasing homestead properties failed in Martin County and Brewster County.
Proposition 6, the amendment that gained the most attention and called for the creation of a state water plan passed in every county but Brewster County, where it failed 52 to 48 percent.
In a press release, Governor Rick Perry celebrated the passage of the Proposition 6, declaring, “Today, the people of Texas made history, ensuring we’ll have the water we need to grow and thrive for the next five decades, without raising state taxes.”
In other ballot issues, a bond to support the creation of a new county courthouse in Odessa failed. Ector County voters chose not to support the 95 million dollar project. Voters in Andrew County flipped it from a dry county to a wet county, allowing the sales of mixed drinks and beer and wine. Midland selected a new mayor; Jerry Morales won 61 percent of the vote, defeating John James.
Update Wednesday: The results won't be official until later this morning, but unofficially, the school bond issue in Fort Davis lost by one vote.
Update Wednesday: The Jeff Davis County School Board will not have official results on the school bond referendum for 5 to 6 days, until early next week. The unofficial tally was 196 votes for raising the school's property tax rate 13 cents, with 197 against. There are 6 provisional votes that may or may not be taken into account.