Early Voting in LISD School Bond Election

LIBERTY, September 30, 2010 - The dates for early voting in the Liberty ISD School Bond election are as follows. Early voting for the School Bond Election will be held at the Liberty ISD Administration Building at 1600 Grand Ave., Liberty, TX.

Voting in the Liberty ISD School Bond Election on Election Day, November 2, 2010, will be held at the following location where everyone always votes in the General Election and will involve voters living in precincts 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 18, 19, 21, 28, 35, 36 and 31.

The reason the Liberty ISD School Bond Election is coming up again is that it failed overwhelmingly in last May’s election. The School Board, much like the Liberty County Hospital Board Election when it failed, is coming back to the voters again in hopes of passing it on the second attempt.

It is also interesting that the Bond Election has been split into 5 separate segments to further confuse and confound voters in hopes that parts of it will pass.

To see a sample ballot for the LISD School Bond Election click HERE.

Attorney for LISD told i-dineout.com that previous Early Voting in School Elections have been handled the same way as this one.

Liberty ISD School Elections must be held on the regular election days and are joint elections. Usually LISD School Elections occur in May and are held in conjunction with the City of Liberty Elections.

Since this School Bond Election is occurring by choice of the school board during the November General Election LISD is conducting this election like it would have if it had occurred in May in conjunction with City of Liberty Elections, according to Attorney Randy Gunter of LISD.

Since this is General Election time, should it have been done differently than elections that occur in May?

When you realize that more than half of the people who voted in the general election in 2008 did so in early voting and a low voter turnout will favor the passage of the Bond Election, then if you favor passage of the Bond Election make voting in early voting difficult thus reducing the overall voter turnout for the School Bond Election.

Since this election is occurring during a General Election it would have been less costly to taxpayers to have Early Voting for the School Bond Election handled at the Courthouse where early voting in the General Election will take place rather than having two voting locations for early voting for Liberty voters. Election Day voting will occur at the same place for both elections.

Having Early Voting in one place for both elections would have increased voter participation and turnout in the School Bond Election and been a real convenience for voters.

The most efficient for the voters, the school district and all involved and the least costly way to handle this election would be to have Early Voting for the School Bond Election combined at one voting location with Early Voting in the General Election.

Instead, if you want to vote early, as most voters did in the 2008 General Election, then you make one stop at the Courthouse in Liberty and have to make a second one at the Liberty ISD Administration Building to vote in both elections.

If you vote on Election Day you can vote in both elections on Election Day at your regular precinct polling place.

Make sure you vote in the upcoming General Election and Liberty ISD School Bond Election whether you vote early or on Election Day.

This article was written after a telephone interview with LISD Superintendent Lusignolo and LISD Attorney Randy Gunter in a conference call.

After the article was published Superintendent Lusignolo sent an e-mail to i-dineout.com stating, “I have read the i-dineout submission that you mentioned during our phone conversation this morning. Given the tone of the submission, I decline your invitation to comment.”

To which this reporter replied by e-mail, You said, "Given the tone of the submission, I decline your invitation to comment." I was also disappointed. The lack of honesty and transparency in your responses (this morning) was not appreciated.

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