Blog Post

Mar 17

Every Vote Counts - Don't Waste Yours


We have all heard the saying: “Every Vote Counts.” And, it could not be more true than in local municipal and school board elections.  Why?  Because very few people vote, making your vote even more powerful.  In the last municipal election cycle throughout Dallas County, less than 7% of the registered voters actually voted.  LESS THAN 7%!  While that does not seem possible, it is the reality.  And of those who voted, Democrats show up on a much larger scale than Republicans. 

Given the critical importance of local elections, it is very hard to understand the apathy of any voters, let alone conservative voters.  The decisions of our City Council, particularly in our weak Mayor system, affect our daily lives more than many of the national issues we hear about in the media.  In fact, many of the landmark federal policies in this country have emanated from the local level.  Much of our federal policy has been shaped from the local ground up. Policies such as minimum wage, environmental protection, and equity, diversity and inclusion began at the local level somewhere.  Just think about local policies such as the Reparation policy that is currently being pushed and/or implemented in San Francisco. How long will it be until a local issue like that reaches Congress? We must be active at the local level to hold our elected officials accountable, stop policies we do not agree with and create the change that we want not only at home but throughout the country.

Let’s just look at the power that the Dallas City Council has.  Our City Council is responsible for setting the stage for city policy.  Often, the Council has incorporated woke ideologies such as critical race theory and equity, diversity and inclusion into its City policies that are now infiltrating our businesses and schools.  The Council also controls the annual City budget and plans for capital improvements, which emanates from the City Manager’s Office.  That means it directs the use of our tax dollars on what it deems important and not necessarily what we might deem important.  The City Council makes decisions regarding City services, City ordinances, buying and selling property, administering the Dallas employee retirement fund (which it has almost bankrupted), local economic development, establishing affordable housing, and perhaps one of the most important decisions at the moment – how to deal with Dallas’ growing homeless population.  Are you satisfied with the direction Dallas is going on these critical issues?  Neither am I. So, I ask you to vote. Get your family to vote. Get your friends to vote. Get your neighbors to vote.  Given the incredibly poor participation by Dallas voters in municipal elections, Conservatives can shape our City government and policy.  We simply need to Get Out the Vote in larger numbers than our liberal citizens.

So, who do you vote for?  Municipal candidates do not have the ability to raise money and get their names and ideologies into the public forum like state and national candidates can. So, here at the Dallas GOP, we are frequently asked – “Who should I vote for?”  And, yes, I know these are “non-partisan” elections.  But really, is there such a thing anymore?  We know that the Dallas Democrat Party has been distributing its slate of candidates for MANY election cycles, so it is high time we do the same.  The candidates highlighted below are our suggested candidates.  These are not endorsements, but rather our suggestions on the candidates we believe are more likely to support:

  • Our police and enforcement of laws to reduce crime and make our neighborhoods safe.
    Pro-growth and pro-business development all over Dallas.
    Common sense policies to address the homeless.
    Smaller government and lower taxes.
    Family values and parental rights in schools and over medical decisions.
    Equality for all citizens, not certain groups.
    Rejection of woke policies throughout City government.

We know that not everyone will agree with our suggestions, and we encourage every voter to do his or her own research.  The most important thing is that we GET OUT THE VOTE!  There are alternative candidates for 13 of 14 City Council Districts to reverse the current liberal ideologies presently on the Dallas City Council. Only WE can stop the destructive policies currently being pushed by the Dallas City Council whose focus on equity, diversity and inclusion has resulted in efforts to defund our police, increase crime in our City, enable the homeless, overtax our citizens, stifle business growth, and silence parents. We are headed down the wrong path.  If we do not stand up and stop it, we will only have ourselves to blame. The time is NOW.  Early voting begins on April 24.

The Dallas County Republican Party recommends the following candidates for the City of Dallas. Additional recommendations in other municipalities will be published soon in Part 2.

City of Dallas

  • Place 1
  • Chad West – Incumbent - Status Quo
  • Mariana Griggs – Represents Change
  •  
  • Place 2
  • Jesse Moreno – Incumbent- Status Quo
  • Sukhbir Kaur – Represents Change
  •  
  • Place 3
  • Open Seat
  • John Sims – Represents Change
  •  
  • Place 4
  • Carolyn King Arnold – Incumbent – Status Quo
  • Jamie Smith – Represents Change
  •  
  • Place 5
  • Jamie Resendez – Incumbent – Status Quo
  • Yolanda Faye Williams – Represents Change
  • Place 6
  • Omar Narvaez – Incumbent – Status Quo
  • Sidney Robles Martinez – Represents Change
  •  
  • Place 7
  • Adam Bazaldua – Incumbent – Status Quo
  • Tracy Dotie Hill – Represents Change
  • Place 8
  • No Recommendation
  •  
  • Place 9
  • Paula Blackmon – Incumbent – Status Quo
  • Kendra Denise Madison – Represents Change
  •  
  • Place 10 - Open Seat
  • Kathy Stewart – Represents Change
  • Chris Carter – Represents Change
  •  
  • Place 11
  • Janie Schultz – Incumbent – Status Quo
  • Candace Evans – Represents Change
  •  
  • Place 12 - Unopposed
  • Cara Mendelsohn - Incumbent
  •  
  • Place 13
  • Gay Donnell Willis – Incumbent – Status Quo
  • Priscilla Shacklett – Represents Change
  •  
  • Place 14
  • Paul Ridley – Incumbent – Status Quo
  • Joseph Miller – Represents Change
  •  
  • Place 15 - Mayor
  • Eric Johnson - Unopposed
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6 Comments
Added by Bill Underhill

Thanks Jennifer
Added by Cyrenanolan

Thank you for posting , look forward to sharing . And yes , our city council needs a thorough scrubbing. One thought on voter apathy is the lack of faith in the accuracy , transparency , and accountability of our elections . It is an insecure system rife with problems and it needs to be corrected. Urge all to go to TexasFirst.org and follow thru on Action Alerts to pressure Texas Legislature to fix our rigged elections . Alerts updated weekly on Tuesdays - will take you less than a minute to complete . pass it on let’s own our elections
Added by Autumn McCall

Jennifer,
How do we really know if only 7% of the registered voters in Dallas County voted in the last municipal election? What if republican mail in ballots never make it to the "count"? USPS is so trustworthy that Biden wants a special division that only handles mail in ballots :-) What if electronic votes get "deleted" or "flipped"? Not everyone checks the ballot trackers to see if their mail in ballot was received (we should do a PR campaign on this), and you can't verify who you voted for in every race. I don't think the GOP Data Center shows how everyone votes (R or D) in every election whether that be an early vote or a day of vote....It should though!

I think that we should start our own audit teams after each election using the 3R packets and some other tools like to see if things are adding up with Dallas County Judge totals and Texas SOS totals....not wait on a candidate to sue for the audit...which as you pointed out Jennifer, is expensive for the candidate/legal fees, etc.

Are we allowed to email or mail all registered dallas republicans after each election and ask them if they voted? The canvassing on foot is super duper slow and time consuming.
Added by Susan A Fountain

Autumn,
Good questions. I will forward them to Jennifer. Our Ballot Board and Signature Verification Committees check on the mail in ballots as they come in and match them to the application received to verify signatures match. They also track the applications and mail in ballots that are sent out and there is a website where a voter can check to ensure that their ballot has been logged in and recorded. You have an excellent suggestion to educate voters on the ability to track their mail in ballot. There are a few that are returned to the voting locations and surrendered in order to vote in person if the voter changes their mind about the security of mail in ballots actually reaching the elections department. Those that are surrendered should have written VOID/CANCELLED across the face to ensure that it is never used. When I am an election judge I also have the voter initial it and date it which should match approximately the same time stamp/date as the voter's in person ballot.

If we had email addresses for all voters it certainly would be allowed to email and ask, but unfortunately we have very few email addresses for the 1.38 million registered voters in Dallas County.

However, at precinct chair training this Saturday morning we will be covering how precinct chairs can download the previous voters who voted the previous day during Early Voting. The voters names and VUIDs and addresses are downloaded every morning and are cumulative every morning through EV period. Then you can cross them off of your precinct list as they are sortable in Excel by precinct number.

We are happy to show you how to do this, or our data team can do it for you and send it to you to whip your votes in the Municipal election.

Hope this answered most of your questions.
Added by Bruce Dunai

Thanks for the info above in the Blog. Would be helpful to have on the the DallasGOP.org web-site any info about the upcoming May election, prominently displayed, such as dates of early voting, other issues on the ballot, etc. If it's already there, please advise. I see a reduction of 100+ voting locations was approved by the County Commissioners, a great step forward in cost savings.
Added by phillipdvaught

Thanks for posting this, a needed entity.
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