Crockett Modifies Precincts For City Elections
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
CROCKETT – The Crockett City Council held a parallel meeting with Crockett Independent School District (CISD) Monday, Jan. 8, to match the voting precincts for the two entities and make sure they complied with the latest census data, state laws and a federal lawsuit dating from the 1990’s. The complicated work behind the redrawn districts was the product of months of work by both parties and a team of attorneys which had to count each voter carefully, ensuring poll places would not change and keeping a majority of the shared precincts minority-majority.
The rare dual meeting was opened by each body, before Crockett Mayor Dr. Ianthia Fisher welcomed the CISD board and opened the public hearing. During the brief public remarks, some of those responsible for the lawsuit – to which the city and school district must abide – threatened possible new action, if the city and the school couldn’t come to an agreement.
The process began in the summer, with CISD aligning its precincts with the latest census numbers and complying with all the standards and norms required. The problem was, different precincts between the city and the schools would be considered by some to cause confusion and suppress voter turnout. The other issue was the school district is much larger than the city, so moving even 20 voters to one district or another could unbalance the numbers, causing one district to have to shift their polling places, or another precinct to not comply with other required stipulations.
As Crockett City Administrator John Angerstein explained and walked the council through the two proposals, there was really only one way for the plan to move forward – for each group to vote on their version of the same map, with little time to spare before elections in May. State law requires such changes to be made at least 78 days before a local election. Anyone moved from one district to another must also be informed, with Houston County Elections Administrator Cynthia Lum waiting for the final votes before sending out any new voter identification cards, showing the new precincts.
In the case of city precincts, presented by Angerstein with attorneys commenting by video conference, the changes were minor, overall – precincts 2-5 would be minority-majority. When the time came to vote, Council Member Marquita Beasley was unsure, not comfortable with the new precincts. With only Beasley, Mike Marsh and Ernest Jackson present, (Councilman Dennis Ivey was sick with the flu) the city would need all three to approve the plan to have a quorum majority to enact the new precincts.
With Beasley voting no, it was not quite clear how to proceed. Mayor Fisher invited CISD to go ahead and vote for their version of the agreed-upon precincts, acknowledging the city might need a little more time to get their version approved. CISD Board President Karen Norman called for a vote, which was approved unanimously.
Beasley, uncomfortable and without doubt feeling the pressure of making the decision, explained her rationale, saying, “Dennis (Ivey) should at least be here.”
With not only elections, but time to declare candidacies for any elections looming, the city was quick to schedule a second public hearing for the matter Friday, Jan. 12, at 2 p.m. With a hoarse, but overall healthy Ivey in attendance, but with Beasley absent, the council proceeded to open a public hearing, with no one coming forward to voice an opinion, for or against.
Angerstein explained the impetus behind the renewed push, telling the council while Texas law dictates such changes must be made 78 days before an election, the date for potential candidates to announce running for an office would begin Jan. 17, and he said it would be unfair for residents to sign up to run for an office, only to potentially find themselves in a different precinct at a later date.
Angerstein said if the council did not approve the new precincts before then, the legal counsel had advised the city to hold the May elections with their existing map, and make the changes after the election.
“What if no one runs for a position?” it was asked. “Council would then have to consider their options, at that point,” Angerstein responded.
As it turned out, this was not necessary, as Marsh, Jackson and Ivey approved the new map and the meeting was quickly over. Angerstein pointed out the city was redistricting voting precincts, and not annexing any new land to the city.
On one last note, during the Monday, Jan. 8 meeting, Marsh had harsh words for the slow work to repair Fifth Street, after contractors discovered sulfur in the ground, leading to the repairs to fail. While the contractors were not required to test for the substance, as no such problems had ever been had in the city, the contractors were willing to fix the work, but getting that coordinated, getting the testing done so the problem would not come up again, and getting approval from those who initially gave grants fro the repairs, was taking too long, in Marsh’s opinion.
“We have nine or ten streets coming up for repair this year and we will spend how much?”
“Six million,” Angerstein confirmed.
“Six million dollars. I will not vote for any of these repairs until Fifth Street is completed. I hope my people will stand with me. It’s been too long,” Marsh said. “Everyone has already been paid. It needs to be fixed and it needs to be fixed, now.”
At the Friday, Jan. 12 follow-up meeting, Mayor Fisher began the meeting by remarking on Marsh’s statement.
“I would just like to congratulate Mr. Marsh for being so conscientious about his community and what has been going on,” Fisher said. “It is enlightening to have people who care about their constituents so much and put force behind that. Things are working better and we appreciate all he (Marsh) has been doing with that.”
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
