The Cameron County Elections Office calculates that there are 84,849 registered voters in the City of Brownsville. In the current elections for three commissioner positions, 2,801 had voted so far. Two of the elections are in single-member districts. That's a bit more than 21,000 registered voters per district. Those are District 3 candidates William Garza and Joel Munguia. The District 4 race pits incumbent John Villarreal against challenger Ben Neece.
The At-Large "B" race pits incumbent Rose Gowen against challenger Erasmo Castro. In that election, all 84,849 registered voters are eligible to cast ballots.
It is estimated that 60 percent of the votes are cast in early voting. With early voting coming to an end today, we'll be lucky if we reach 3,500 early votes, it means that there might be another 1,400 votes cast on Saturday, Election Day, less than 5,000 votes. (Click on graphic above to enlarge)
That means that less than 6 percent of the city's registered voters will decide the political representation of the city. To put it clearer, those 5,000 will decide the representation of the estimated 200,000 city residents, or to put it another way, about 2.5 percent of the population will choose its representatives who will decide how the resources of the city get allotted.
We compare it to a lifeboat with 20 people allowing one and one-half of the occupants to decide who will get water, food and shelter.
The local newspaper has not helped. In its latest story on the District 4 race, and another story before on other races, it has told its readers that early voting ends May 4, on Thursday, instead of May 2. Has this created confusion among some voters who may think they have another two days to vote and put off going to the polls?
We are fortunate to have the luxury of choosing our own political representatives. Let's not take this right for granted. Please vote.)
16 comments:
Is it voter apathy or voter understanding. The average local voter knows all the candidates represent certain individuals and interests and if elected will look after those individual and interests. The general public gets left sucking hind tit, so why waste the gas to go vote.
yu have been here how long, juanito? How many freakin' times have yu written this freakin' story, bro?!
this is a clear sign that people are tired of the political circus and the smear campaign tactics....i think we all still have the bad taste of our presidential election results.
Gowen is way ahead of Castro and Villarreal is taking it to Neece! Get with the real news, juanito!!!!!!!
I'm with Gowen. Cheezmeh is not smart enough, juan.
If you don't mind getting rape, stay with the current commissioners. They are going to let you have it in a few years with the possibility of tax increases due to all the uncontrolled spending of our tax dollars. Just remember La Casa Del Nylon and the Tenasaka deal as prime examples. Shame on them for their mismanagement and shame on us if they get re-elected.
Pathetic Voter Apathy. With all the people I know, I Just can't seem to muster more than 20 votes, Good, Bad, or Indifferent, from friends and family members. People just
think their vote does not make a difference. Civics in School should have a bigger role. (Then people wonder why McAllen and Harlingen thrive.)
Ben Neece is the best hope for a new downtown
Me too..... with Gowen.
A quien le importa, compadre?
At least your feeble attempt at being conscientiously concerned about voter apathy is entertaining. You underestimate the common voter Juan. All seven of your blog readers know that you get paid to write biased commentary and that your pen will sway to the highest bidder. By the way, the promotional posts of Ben and Erasmo on your blog are a dead giveaway. Somehow your name and the word magnanimous don't fit in the same sentence.
Ignorance contributes to voter apathy and we have a lot of that in the city. Most don't even know who the candidates are or the issues at hand. We wonder why all goes wrong in Brownsville.....it is because voters don't care (apathy).
I went to vote today and nada. I saw the notice here without reading article so I thought I had until 4th. I was voting early for neece and now I can't because I'm leaving town for the weeekend.
Don't like it, don't read it, simple.
VOTE ERASMO CASTRO, WILLIAM GARZA, BEN NEECE!
See what I mean about voter apathy? The vote in Brownsville is for sale to the highest bidder, so that he or she can share the wealth with his or her compadres. Why was Tony Martinez allowed to buy the property behind his business at auction so he could improve his current possession and sell it for a bunch of more bucks? Who owned the Casa de Nylon before Martinez bought it? No one knows and no one cares cause it is done anyway so why hit your head against a brick wall and waste time going to vote?
Very true! Voting a blank ballot or not voting at all sounds like the best option in Brownsville!
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