AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Election Day is here for the Nov. 2 constitutional and special elections across Central Texas.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., and as long as you're in line by 7 p.m., you'll be allowed to cast your vote.
As of 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, the Travis County Clerk's office said more than 40,000 ballots had been cast so far, combined with roughly 100,000 ballots cast during early voting.
Across the state, voters will decide the fate of eight constitutional amendments approved by the Legislature during the regular session. A number of municipal and other local elections are also being held.
Here are links to county election information, including polling places and sample ballots:
Travis County
Williamson County
Hays County
Caldwell County
Bastrop County
One the of most prominent items on the ballot in Central Texas is the City of Austin's Proposition A, which would force the city to increase staffing at the Austin Police Department by instituting a minimum of two officers per 1,000 residents. It would also aim to increase minority hiring, double the amount of yearly trainings for officers, and require that 35% of officers’ shifts are spent on community policing.
Austin voters are also considering Proposition B, which would give voter approval to a potential trade for nine acres of parkland on South Lakeshore Boulevard, which sits adjacent to Oracle's headquarters, for 48 or more acres of waterfront land "contiguous to an existing City park."
School bonds will also be on the ballot in several area districts. Leander ISD residents will be asked to vote on approving $772 million in bond packages; Elgin ISD residents will consider $190 million in bonds for new schools and facility upgrades; and Georgetown ISD residents are being asked to consider $380 million for new schools and facility improvements. The Leander and Georgetown packages are the largest those districts have ever put before their voters.
Here's a look at the eight state constitutional amendments on the ballot:
Proposition 1 (HJR 143): “The constitutional amendment authorizing the professional sports team charitable foundations of organizations sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association or the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association to conduct charitable raffles at rodeo venues.”
Proposition 2 (HJR 99): “The constitutional amendment authorizing a county to finance the development or redevelopment of transportation or infrastructure in unproductive, underdeveloped, or blighted areas in the county.”
Proposition 3 (SJR 27): “The constitutional amendment to prohibit this state or a political subdivision of this state from prohibiting or limiting religious services of religious organizations.”
Proposition 4 (SJR 47): “The constitutional amendment changing the eligibility requirements for a justice of the supreme court, a judge of the court of criminal appeals, a justice of a court of appeals, and a district judge.”
Proposition 5 (HJR 165): “The constitutional amendment providing additional powers to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct with respect to candidates for judicial office.”
Proposition 6 (SJR 19): “The constitutional amendment establishing a right for residents of certain facilities to designate an essential caregiver for in-person visitation.”
Proposition 7 (HJR 125): “The constitutional amendment to allow the surviving spouse of a person who is disabled to receive a limitation on the school district ad valorem taxes on the spouse’s residence homestead if the spouse is 55 years of age or older at the time of the person’s death.”
Proposition 8 (SJR 35): “The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of all or part of the market value of the residence homestead of the surviving spouse of a member of the armed services of the United States who is killed or fatally injured in the line of duty.”
