193 replies to this topic

[Dylan]

In my part of suburban Fort Worth proper, there are a bunch of signs along major thoroughfares for Brian Byrd, Mattie Parker, and Deborah Peoples. No signs for Ann Zadeh.

 

I hope Ann Zadeh's popularity in her district can carry her to the runoff election. I'm not sure she's well known outside of her district.

[MorganRehnberg]

I live in Zadehs district and havent seen any signs for her. I think shes just not doing them? Ive gotten more mailers for her than anyone else, though.

[Volare]

In my part of suburban Fort Worth proper, there are a bunch of signs along major thoroughfares for Brian Byrd, Mattie Parker, and Deborah Peoples. No signs for Ann Zadeh.

 

I hope Ann Zadeh's popularity in her district can carry her to the runoff election. I'm not sure she's well known outside of her district.

 

The reason you don't see AZ signs is because she is the only candidate who respects the law regarding political signs. All those other signs you see posted in public ROW are posted illegally.

 

I do see plenty of AZ signs posted in yards in District 9.

 

Fort Worth sign ordinance:

 

   (e)   Political signs referring to the candidates or issues involved in a public election, subject to the following conditions:

 

      (1)   The sign is located on private real property with the consent of the property owner;

      (2)   The sign does not exceed eight feet in height;

      (3)   The sign may not have an effective area greater than 36 square feet;

      (4)   The sign shall not be illuminated; and

      (5)   The sign shall not contain any moving elements.

[roverone]

I just returned from a break in work-from-home to early vote at the SW Regional Library there were maybe 6-7 voters who passed through while I was there.  I know that is not many, but there have been times when I would go downtown from the office and it was only me and 1 other voter.

[beverlyb]

I voted around 11:30 am today (4/22). I vote at the downtown Burnett location. I was the only person there, but two people were heading in as I was leaving. 

[Doohickie]

 

Oh... and an interesting note:  Joel Burns, former council member from District 9, made a post on Facebook that showed the 8 candidates for that district (including Richerson who's been DQed by the city but won't admit it).  4 of the 8 have never voted for in a Ft Worth municipal election for mayor/city council themselves!

 

Apparently Joel Burns has incomplete information.  On that same post, Ashley Paz, FWISD Board Member has stated that she knows of at least one person on the list that has voted in municipal elections before.

She's managing Fernando Peralta's campaign, so of course she's going to say that.  I don't know who is right.

[mmmdan]

My wife has personal experience with people/groups getting incomplete voting information.  Before the last election she received a text from a campaign encouraging her to register to vote.  Not only has she been registered to vote, but she is a volunteer deputy registrar.

 

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we had moved recently???  Don't know, but it's not like we are new to county.

 

I am not trying to attack Joel Burns, we were big fans of his when he was on the council.  Without knowing how he got his data and from personal experience, the data is suspect.

[Volare]

With early voting complete, Tarrant County turnout is at 7.8%. Saturday is voting day.

 

I feel like participation here should require proof of voting.

[txbornviking]

With early voting complete, Tarrant County turnout is at 7.8%. Saturday is voting day.

 

I feel like participation here should require proof of voting.

 

abysmal turnout numbers.

it's hard to feel upbeat projecting a 15% total turnout, though over the past decade Fort Worth has struggled to have turnout greater than 10% in local elections.

there's clearly a crisis in our democracy. 

[mmmdan]

It is quite sad how few people vote in Fort Worth.  For the people that do vote, they get an outsized say in the elected officials of the city.  When Betsy Price first ran for mayor, approximately 35,000 people voted.  To put that in perspective, that is less than half the number of students in FWISD, and FWISD doesn't even cover the whole city.

[Doohickie]

I got in under the wire in early voting..... voted after work on Tuesday.

 

[txbornviking]

It is quite sad how few people vote in Fort Worth.  For the people that do vote, they get an outsized say in the elected officials of the city.  When Betsy Price first ran for mayor, approximately 35,000 people voted.  To put that in perspective, that is less than half the number of students in FWISD, and FWISD doesn't even cover the whole city.

 

every voter who turned out for recent local elections wouldn't even fill TCU's Amon Carter stadium.

[roverone]

It is interesting to consider that if I wrote a letter to 7 - 9 (or however the final counts work out to be) citizens and said: "I'm going to cast a vote on you behalf in these city elections, but I'm not going to ask you for input or tell you who I cast your vote for"  some portion of them would be outraged that I took that away from them -- and yet that is exactly what is happening.

[Volare]

Of course this turnout problem could all be fixed by amending the City Charter and making the election take place in November along with all the others. Of course, there are no doubt a lot of folks who see the status quo as a feature and not a bug.

[roverone]

I have mixed feelings about overlapping with November elections: for sure the turn out would be there, but as the ballot gets longer it is harder to research all of the candidates, and I'd be concerned that what can sometimes be extremely partisan politics would polarize the city elections further away from voting for the person and push toward voting for the party.  Not that there are not partisan viewpoints from each of the candidates, but I feel like when it is closer to home people are more likely to pay attention to the qualifications and intentions of that particular candidate -- well, those who vote at least.

 

Every single day I have gotten fliers for candidates.  I don't know if this is happening for everyone, but it would be almost impossible for me to not know an election is going on.  I think what people don't take in is how important local elected officials can be for the city and much leverage their vote has because of the low turnout.

[elpingüino]

Peoples and Parker heading to the runoff, https://www.star-tel...e251029029.html

[Austin55]

Byrd did not do well eh?

[John T Roberts]

So far, Byrd is running third. 

[elpingüino]

Edit: With all vote centers reporting
https://results.enr....901/web.276603/

Carlos Flores re-elected in council district 2
Michael Crain winning outright (no runoff) in district 3
Cary Moon just narrowly avoiding a runoff (51%) in district 4 that one may still change as votes come in from the final few precincts
Gyna Bivens re-elected in district 5
Jungus Jordan and Dr. Jared Williams headed to a runoff in district 6
Zeb Pent and Leonard Firestone headed to a runoff in district 7
Chris Nettles leading incumbent Kelly Allen Gray and heading to a runoff in district 8
Elizabeth Beck (43%) and Fernando Peralta.(12%) heading to a runoff in district 9

[elpingüino]

Total turnout for Tarrant County ended up at 14%. 165,661 voted out of 1,170,379 registered voters.

[Jeriat]

While I'm not surprised Byrd is in 3rd, I am a little surprised that Ann isn't in front of Steve "I should be running for mayor of Aledo" Penate. 

[Volare]

Total turnout for Tarrant County ended up at 14%. 165,661 voted out of 1,170,379 registered voters.

 

So- for the June runoff, over or under 10%?

[JBB]

Probably depends on if House district 6 Democrats show up to sabotage the Trump backed candidate.

[JBB]

I am not even a little surprised. The S-T gave him a boatload of free advertising after his church appearance less than a week before the election. And just got overshadowed by the rest of the front runners.

[Jeriat]

I am not even a little surprised. The S-T gave him a boatload of free advertising after his church appearance less than a week before the election. And just got overshadowed by the rest of the front runners.

Yuck.

[JBB]

That was supposed to be Ann got overshadowed. Damn autocorrect.

[Austin55]

Does anyone know the history of how much turnout changes in runoffs?

[Volare]

Ann was one of the first candidates to announce for Mayor. I'd be interested to know if she would have chosen to run if she had known how crowded the field was going to be. 

IMO it is a huge loss for Fort Worth to not have her on the Council anymore. She was the only one with an education and professional background in the many issues facing a growing City.  She was consistently the only member who wasn't just rubber stamping whatever the unelected bureaucrats who actually run this City came up with.

[johnfwd]

For mayor I voted for one of the two candidates who had prior experience in city governance.  Neither of them got to the runoffs.  I, too, got a lot of informational flyers in the mail.  But, admittedly, I trashed them.  And, admittedly, I cast at least one of my votes to elect a city council candidate on the basis of familiarity with his yard sign.  I'm afraid yard-signing voting is still popular.

[John T Roberts]

I guess the good news could be that she could run again representing the district where she lives.  I didn't say District 9 because in two years, we will have 2 new council seats and the boundaries will be redrawn. 

[Volare]

For mayor I voted for one of the two candidates who had prior experience in city governance.  Neither of them got to the runoffs.  

 

By my count there were at least 3 with such experience?

[Dylan]

It's real disappointing that Ann Zadeh won't be our next mayor.

 

I'm sure Mattie Parker would be a fine mayor, but I believe she is content with the status quo. I don't believe she would push for better transit or fight for big companies to relocate here.

 

On the other hand, I'm sure Deborah Peoples would push for better transit and big companies to relocate here. But, I don't think better transit is her passion like it is Ann's passion.

 

I'm also not sure Deborah Peoples supports the Panther Island project.

[Dylan]

Can we merge the two separate threads discussing the same election?

[John T Roberts]

Since I'm trying to end the Politics Sub-Forum, I will merge the two threads over into City Issues.  The original City Council Election thread was started in 2005.

[Jeriat]

It's real disappointing that Ann Zadeh won't be our next mayor.

 

I'm sure Mattie Parker would be a fine mayor, but I believe she is content with the status quo. I don't believe she would push for better transit or fight for big companies to relocate here.

 

On the other hand, I'm sure Deborah Peoples would push for better transit and big companies to relocate here. But, I don't think better transit is her passion like it is Ann's passion.

 

I'm also not sure Deborah Peoples supports the Panther Island project.

 

At this point, I really don't think it matters who supports the Panther Island project or not, because it's pushing along regardless of anyone's feelings... 

I think everyone here knows my position on who I'd rather be mayor. They both offer a couple things I'd like to see, but I can't stand "the Fort Worth Way" anymore. 

[JBB]

The mayor has little or no influence on the federal funding that is hurting Panther Island. Mayor Price was a huge Trump supporter and her lobbying efforts went nowhere. I assume the water district has screwed this up enough by trying to cut corners with the due diligence that it will take a miracle to get the funding in line.

[Doohickie]

Eh.  I disagree. 

 

The fault was that it was believed that the project *could* get the funding through playing politics.  The son of a member of Congress, with no previous project management experience, as project manager, the mayor cozying up to the president, the belief they could use those connections to gloss over the obvious economic development component in the effort to get funding as a flood control project.  The whole approach was wrong, wrong, wrong.

 

If you look at the infrastructure bill currently proposed, it is all about providing the means for economic development.  The project leaders should be seeing what it takes to get in on that funding, take what they can get, then go and secure funding from other sources, possibly from the state, the county, the city, AND from business interests who stand to benefit from the project.  I think it can be done, but don't think that nepotism, politics and graft will get it fully funded.

 

They should hire a city planner who's done bicycle paths.  If they can get those funded, they can get anything funded. 

[roverone]

Just a reminder for everyone to vote here in the runoffs for whoever you think will do best in their roles for the city.

 

I expect no matter what, the winners will win by small vote counts, so just remember your vote will probably be carrying the weight of 7 - 12 voters depending on turnout.

 

I voted a little earlier and there was a decent flow of voters, but it was around lunch time.

[Jeriat]

Just a reminder for everyone to vote here in the runoffs for whoever you think will do best in their roles for the city.

 

I expect no matter what, the winners will win by small vote counts, so just remember your vote will probably be carrying the weight of 7 - 12 voters depending on turnout.

 

I voted a little earlier and there was a decent flow of voters, but it was around lunch time.

 

It'll have to be Friday for me when I'm off work early.

[beverlyb]

I voted today. In and out in five minutes. The other three voters were on the struggle bus with address issues. 

[johnfwd]

I voted just awhile ago.  From my office, I walked up to the Tarrant County Plaza Building.  I was surprised that, at that particular time just before noon, a goodly size number were casting ballots.  Wearing masks, of course.

[John T Roberts]

I just voted at lunch, as well.  I went to the James Ave. Service Center.  There were more people there today than there were a month ago when I voted early.  It will be interesting to see the election results.

[Doohickie]

I voted there this morning.

[Jeriat]

Voted at the Southwest Courthouse. Fairly decent amount of people for 12:30.

[Austin55]

Parker appears headed for a win.

Some council races remain close.

[Jeriat]

Parker appears headed for a win.

Some council races remain close.

 

Don't really know how to feel, man... 

(To my North Crowley bros, Chris Nettles, congrats... J-Will, good race, almost had Jungus.)

EDIT:

Never mind, Jared WON. 
 

[Stadtplan]

from S-T:
Parker had 47,283 votes to Peoples 41,012 = 88,295

Fort Worth population 2020: 927,720
9.52% turnout

[Jeriat]

from S-T:
Parker had 47,283 votes to Peoples 41,012 = 88,295

Fort Worth population 2020: 927,720
9.52% turnout

 

Well, of course not every single one of that 927k+ can vote.

So amongst registered voters, it could and should actually be more than that. 

[elpingüino]

Luke Ranker reports on Jordan and Gray's defeats,
2 incumbents lose their seats on Fort Worth City Council

Plus, of course, Byrd, Zadeh, and Shingleton not running for re-election.

[elpingüino]

from S-T:
Parker had 47,283 votes to Peoples 41,012 = 88,295

Fort Worth population 2020: 927,720
9.52% turnout

 
Well, of course not every single one of that 927k+ can vote.

So amongst registered voters, it could and should actually be more than that. 

This S-T report refers to 66,658 voting in the May election, "representing a 14% turnout." https://amp.star-tel...e251875288.html That would work out to roughly 476,000 registered voters in Fort Worth, so 88,295 would be 18.5% turnout in the runoff.