Letters to the editor: Rigging elections: A Texas tradition

From Woodlands Villager Posted: Monday, November 2, 2015 10:53 pm

I laughed so hard when I read Jim Doyle and Kelli Cook’s letters on rent-a-voters. Rigging elections is a Texas tradition. In the 1840s, they used to move hands into hotels and fill them with whisky to get their vote. At least now they have to give them money.

The state has simple laws for voter residency. The reason Doyle’s clan was justifiably prosecuted for their Woodlands Road Utility District voting indiscretions was because they were too cheap to hire an election specialist lawyer up front to get it right.

The infrastructure MUD bonds being voted on are not backed by the taxpayer. The risk falls on the bond holders and developer. If a person feels the taxes, water and sewer rates of a new development is too high, they do not have to buy in. It is a free and capitalistic decision. If there are not enough home buyers, the bond holders will not get paid, and the developer will suffer huge losses and possibly bankruptcy. This happens sporadically around the country.

The real voter injustice is the gerrymandered districts drawn up by the Legislature. Parts of the district map look like a spaghetti bowl. If we had fair districting, the Republicans wouldn’t have a super majority in Austin. They used to move people to rig elections; now they just move a line on the map.

Florida voters recently passed a fair districting amendment to their constitution that was initiated by the people through a petition. So if Doyle and Cook do not like the process, all they have to do is get enough voters to sign a petition to amend the Constitution. I am sure the Texas Democratic Party would help them with this endeavor.

Tim Doherty

Conroe