Just When You Thought It Was Safe . . .

Early voting for Democratic primary runoffs starts Monday and continues through this Friday, April 4. You can find a list of early voting locations and times by clicking here.

For Precinct 2207 voters, there are only three races on the ballot:

• the race between Dale Henry and Mark Thompson for Texas Railroad Commissioner,

• the race between Diana Lackey and John Ames for Dallas County Tax Assessor-Collector, and

• the race between Gracie Lewis and David Jordan to be judge of Criminal District Court No. 3.
  

Election day is Tuesday, April 8.

SD 16 Convention Report

Here are some pictures from the SD 16 convention yesterday at Moody Coliseum. Thanks to everyone who came out and participated, whether as a delegate, alternate, or volunteer.

Paco Villamar rallies the Obama troops in front of Moody.


Anne Buckley and Claude Medlock wait in line to pick up credentials shortly after 8:00 a.m.. The first of many periods of waiting during the day.


Inside at last! Obama supporter, Claude Medlock, chats with Clinton supporter, Courtney Key.


Clinton supporters Abigail Harvey and Hannah Koroma relax while waiting for the convention to get under way. Hannah is an immigrant from Sierra Leone and easily won the prize for 'best dressed 2207 delegate.'


Did we mention there was lots of paperwork? From right to left: Carlyle Chapman (handing in paperwork), Barbara Reeves, Quan Tran, and Jason Mattox, our newly elected precinct chair.  In front of them, you have Courtney Key, Claude Medlock, Prof. Darwin Payne, and the back of Phyllis Payne's (very elegant) head.

Then it was time to get started - with the National Anthem, of course. It was quite a sight seeing 4000 Democrats, Independents, and even some Republicans jammed into Moody.  (Video compliments of Gloria Chapman)

Finally, time to vote (around 3:00 p.m.). Virginia Mia casts her presidential preference vote.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the actual election of delegates, which we did under a tree in front of Moody in order to get away from the maddening crowds. If anyone has some, forward them and we'll get them out.


Then the die-hards among us returned inside to wait and wait (and wait and wait) for the tabulation of results. In fact, although voting on delegates finished about 4:00 p.m., the results weren't announced until nearly 9:00 p.m., with the nominations committee then taking a couple of additional hours to select at large delegates and alternates. The convention didn't adjourn until nearly 12:00 a.m. (!!)

But the process was scrupulously fair. A paired up Clinton and Obama supporter reviewed each presidential sign-in sheet, with one calling out the votes and one counting. Then they swapped roles and repeated the process until they reached matching results. Any close calls or disputes went before an evenly divided credentials committee for resolution.

And the results? Barack Obama received 59.2% of the presidential preference votes cast at the convention, while Hillary Clinton got 40.8%.

Of the delegates to the state convention, Obama received 137 of the precinct-elected delegates (including both delegates elected by Precinct 2207), while Clinton received 54. After adding in 'at large' delegates, Obama ended up with a total of 151 delegates to Clinton's 104.

On to Austin in June . . .

About Precinct 2207

Precinct 2207 is located in the Lake Highlands area of Dallas and takes in:

• all of the Cedar Mills, Highlands West, Pebble Creek, Rolling Trails, and Stone Canyon neighborhoods,

• parts of the Alexander's Village and Merriman Park North neighborhoods, and

• the townhomes and apartments between Church Rd. and Walnut Hill. 

In short, basically the 75231 zip code. For those, like me, who are more visually oriented, here's the official map from Dallas County Elections (map).

Geographically, we're actually one of the smaller of the Dallas County precincts.

In the last census, the voting age population of Precinct 2207 was 64% Anglo, 22% African-American, 10% Hispanic, 2% Asian, and 1% mixed race.

Traditionally, the precinct has been heavily Republican, voting 63%-37% for George Bush over John Kerry in 2004. It also tends to undervote, with a voter turnout of only 42% in 2006 versus a county wide average of 58%.

That said, we had a record turnout of 628 people who voted in the Democratic primary this year (nearly double the Republican turnout) plus 190 people who showed up to sit in a crowded church for a couple of hours to caucus on the evening of March 4. So the signs are encouraging.

P.S. For those who had to leave early that night, the caucus resulted in a 72%/28% split in favor of Barack Obama.