The start of Election Day was marked by light turnout this morning in Dallas County as residents in Dallas ISD decide whether to shake up their Board of Trustees.
JIM MAHONEY/DMN
Bilingual clerk Clifton Bowers sits alone Tuesday morning at the Dallas County Precinct 3200 polling location at Reverchon Park Recreation Center in Dallas.
Three district seats are being contested. Voters will also decide on 11 proposed amendments to the state constitution.
The Dallas County Elections Department expected about a 3 percent voter turnout today, one of the lowest Dallas has seen in 20 years, according to Dallas County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet.
"There's nothing on the ballot that has really fired up the voters," he said.
Unlike previous years, the consitutional amendment propositions on this year's ballot are not "hot button" issues, like tax amendments or the state lottery, Sherbet said.
So far the elections department has counted more than 15,000 ballots from early and mail-in voting, a small percentage of the 1,124,066 registered voters in Dallas County.
"If I [count] 20,000 votes today, that's averaging about seven people per hour per polling place," Sherbet said. "We did that in less than five minutes during the [2008] presidential election."
Of the 250 polling places, areas that might receive more voter traffic are DeSoto and Sunnyvale. The cities are voting on constitutional amendments involving wet and dry policies.
At DeGolyer Elementary in northwest Dallas, Daniel Chalker, who voted for Dallas ISD District 1 incumbent Edwin Flores, said the district has made progress.
"Overall, I am satisfied with DISD’s performance," he said. "They still have few problems to work out, but the schools are improving. They are better off than they were five or ten years ago."
His wife, Cherry Chalker, also threw her support behind Flores. "I believe he has a genuine desire to better the district.”
District 1 hopeful Kyle Renard, a homemaker and nonpracticing pediatrician, spent part of her morning introducing herself to voters at John Calvin Presbyterian Church.
Her candidacy had the support of voter Marilyn Mayer.
"I think it’s time for change and a little shakeup in the district." Mayer said. "I think Kyle is very qualified."
Flores and Renard are also facing freelance writer and grant writer Linus Spiller and retired salesman Melvin Cannon.
Turnout got off to a slow start at a number of Dallas precincts.
At W.T. White High School, 16 people came to the polls during the first hour of voting today. Election judge Ed Simpson said that they would probably get 100 voters if turnout was 5 percent, but a 3 percent turnout was expected.
Candidates for the Dallas ISD District 9 seat, which includes South Dallas and parts of downtown, are retired school administrator Juanita Wallace, financial consultant Rossi Walter, educator-consultant Sally Cain and youth advocacy group executive director Bernadette Nutall. Longtime trustee Ron Price decided not to seek re-election.
District 9 has focused in part on race issues, with black leaders concerned that the lone white candidate, Cain, may win the seat long held by a black trustee.
At Colonial Baptist Church in District 9, election judge Dan Mosher said 96 people took part in early voting and 16 had voted early this morning.
Two women, incuding Wallace's daughter Juan, held signs in support of Wallace outside the church.
"I want schools to be up to par so my son can have the best public education at hand," Juan Wallace said.
At the Dallas County Courthouse this morning, election judge Mark Baker said 10 people had voted in the early morning, but he was expecting an increase in traffic later in the day from last-minute voters.
In District 3 in northeast Dallas, incumbent Leigh Ann Ellis, a landscape designer, faces real estate broker Bea Martinez, retired video producer Bruce Parrott and consultant Penny Anderly.
A low turnout and crowded fields of candidates could mean runoff elections will be necessary in one or even all of the races, political observers said. To win, a candidate must get more than 50 percent of the vote.
In Dallas, school board elections have drawn the most attention, following a budget crisis and hundreds of teacher layoffs last fall. A school board decision to extend trustee terms also brought criticism.
Trustees decided to cancel the May election after voting to extend their terms from three to four years. They reversed their decision after the attorney general disagreed with the term extensions. Today's election is taking the place of the canceled May election.
Dale Kaiser, president of the NEA-Dallas employees association, said if the elections had been held in May, turnout would have been higher because the budget problems would have been fresher in voters' minds.
The general thinking is that it will be crucial for candidates to get out their supporters.
Staff writers Tawnell D. Hobbs and Diane Rado contributed to this report.
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