Election draws low turnout so far

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Two days remain of early voting for the Tuesday, Nov. 2 District 4 Gonzales City Council election, City of Waelder sales tax election and the state constitutional amendment election and so far, only 253 people have either voted in-person or by mail.

This represents just barely more than 2 percent of the county’s 12,456 registered voters. In the last constitutional amendment election in 2019, 603 people, or just under 5 percent, of registered voters cast early ballots, while 775 more voted on election day that year.

Early voting is being held from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. through Friday at the Randle Rather Building, 427 St. George St., Gonzales; Nixon City Hall, 302 E. Central, Nixon; and at Waelder City Hall, 300 Hwy 90 West, Waelder.

On election day, voting will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2, at the following consolidated locations:

• Precincts 1, 14 and 15: Randle Rather Building, 427 St. George Street, Gonzales

• Precincts 2 and 11: Gonzales Master Gardeners, 623 N Fair St., Gonzales.

• Precincts 3, 5, 7 and 8: City Building, 820 St. Joseph, Gonzales

• Precincts 4, 6, 10 and 13: Gonzales County Nixon Annex, 302 E. Central, Nixon

• Precinct 9: Waelder Community Center, 311 Hwy. 90 W., Waelder

• Precinct 12: J.B. Wells Jr. Park/Multi-purpose Facility Show Barn, 2301 CR 197, Gonzales

District 4

Candidates for the District 4 seat include, in ballot order, Ronda Miller, Thomas Enriquez and Dan Blakemore. They are seeking to replace Rob Brown, who resigned his seat due to moving out of Gonzales to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for his business.

The winner will be seated on the council next month after the vote is canvassed by the Gonzales City Council.

Waelder

The City of Waelder is holding a sales tax election to authorize the city to collect an additional 0.5 percent in local general sales and use tax within the city limits, bringing the city’s total sales tax levy from 1 percent to 1.5 percent.

Gonzales County also currently collects a sales and use tax of 0.5 percent, so if the measure is successful, total sales tax assessed within Waelder will increase from 1.5 percent to 2 percent, effective immediately after passage.

Constitutional amendments

There are also eight proposed constitutional amendments for the state of Texas on the Nov. 2 ballot. They are:

• Prop 1: "The constitutional amendment authorizing the professional sports team charitable foundations of organizations sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association or the Women's Professional Rodeo Association to conduct charitable raffles at rodeo venues."

• Prop 2: "The constitutional amendment authorizing a county to finance the development or redevelopment of transportation or infrastructure in unproductive, underdeveloped, or blighted areas in the county."

• Prop 3: "The constitutional amendment to prohibit this state or a political subdivision of this state from prohibiting or limiting religious services of religious organizations."

• Prop 4: "The constitutional amendment changing the eligibility requirements for a justice of the supreme court. a judge of the court of criminal appeals, a justice of a court of appeals, and a district judge.”

• Prop 5: "The constitutional amendment providing additional powers 10 the Stale Commission on Judicial Conduct with respect to candidates for judicial office."

• Prop 6: "The constitutional amendment establishing a right for residents of certain facilities to designate an essential caregiver for in-person visitation."

• Prop 7: "The constitutional amendment to allow the surviving spouse of a person who is disabled to receive a limitation on the school district ad valorem taxes on the spouse's residence homestead if the spouse is years of age or older at the time of the person's death."

• Prop 8: "The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of all or part of the market value of the residence homestead of the surviving spouse of a member of the armed services of the United Slates who is killed or fatally injured in the line of duty." 

Copies of sample ballots are available online at co.gonzales.tx.us/page/gonzales.County.Clerk or by visiting the County Clerk’s office on the second floor of the Randle-Rather building.

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