NEWS UPDATE: November
4, 2020 Hot of the presses SNOOZE YOU
LOOSE NEWS
Carrollton, Texas:
In a stunning upset Zul Mirza
Mohamed, the mayoral candidate recently charged with 105 counts of voter
fraud squeaks out a 19-vote victory over incumbent mayor Kevin Falconer!
In his victory speech, Mohamed declares that his first act as the mayor is to fire the current city manager and bring in a more progressive city
staff.
Mohamed has had an on-going contentious relationship with 1st
Responder services along with city maintenance and social services.
Although over 50,000 votes were cast for the Presidential
candidates in the City of Carrollton, these votes were spread out over three
different ballots. Carrollton city limits are included in Collin, Denton, and
Dallas Counties. Each ballot included numerous National, State, County, and
Municipal races.
In this unique COVID election, it is the first time that
Municipal elections were on the same ballot as the Presidential election.
The apparent reason for the upset victory is blamed on VOTER
FATIGUE.
Citywide, only 9,000 voters completed the extremely long
ballots that ended with the race for Mayor and City Council.
Many other voter decisions were left blank especially in
regard to State, County, City Officials, and Propositions.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
Although in hindsight, Texas Governor Abbott might have allowed the Municipal elections to proceed with the May 2020 traditional date, his only legal alternative was the Nov. 3 date.
Several repercussions from this decision may haunt Texas elections for the next 4 years.
This is the first time that all elections National, State, County, and Municipal appeared on the same ballot. Mayors will be elected on the same ballot as the President.
IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE!
This is also the year that Straight Party voting has been eliminated. This could have created an even more disturbing outcome.
Because Municipal elections are non-partisan, if the past practice of CHECK R or D was in play, the bottom of the ballot could have easily been hugely ignored. This was fought in the courts to the bitter end with a final decision to disallow the Straight Party ballot.
The blowback to combining the Municipal ballot included spreading out campaign support funds during a financial depression, lack of personal and community debates and rallies, extreme voter information fatigue, and voter apathy.
For targeted communities, the results could mean upset victories!
HOW TO PREVENT THIS
The entire list of voter decisions in Dallas County is 20 pages long. This is due to the many municipalities in the county. The City of Addison alone features so many minor propositions mainly to correct wording that the entire Alphabet was used. Who can be informed enough to make so many major and minor decisions?
Carrollton includes Dallas, Denton, and Collin County. Each county has different races for State Reps, Judges, and Commissioners to name a few. And at the bottom of all three Carrollton ballots is your choice for the Mayor between the popular incumbent Falconer and Mohammed. There is one City Council race and the ISD which is also a Metrocrest ballot.
My Carrollton in Denton County ballot is 2 pages with 29 decisions beginning with the President and ending with the ISD. And even though 12 are unchallenged, even I who tries to stay election savvy had to dig a little deeper to make informed decisions.
I am constantly called on by people who know and follow me to guide them. They don't ask why they just ask who.
MY BALLOT
I am including my completed ballot. I even checked the ones that have no opponent just in case there is an effort to infuse the election with Write-In candidates. You should consider that as a possibility. I pity the poor citizen voters who have the intention of faithfully executing their civic duty and are facing ballots with even more pages. One of my contacts reported 55 on their Harris County ballot!
- J.B. Blocker is a media consultant based in Collin County in North Texas. Advertise with J.B. by calling 469-334-9962.
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