Reduction of Ghost Voting

In January, the Legislature will begin a new session which will have changes made due to objections by citizens. In particular, citizens are dissatisfied with lawmakers being able to vote for other members when they are absent from a voting session (also known as ghost voting). One solution, authorized by the speaker's chief of staff, involved the use of technology which is 10 fingerprint voting machines. Eight of the machines will be placed amongst the desks of the representatives, while two will occupy the member's lounge, as to serve as more accessible to those who are away from their desks.

At this point the machines are not seen as a foolproof solution, because according to Vice Chairwoman Helen Giddings, "there ain't no 100 percent solution" for protecting the identities of the voters. There is always the chance that a lawmaker can unjustly vote for another member without their permission. Another factor to point out is that the voting machines are optional; House members have the choice of registering their fingerprint only if they wish to vote by this method.

The fact of the matter is that House Representatives have a very tight schedule and are supposed to vote on thousands of bills in short amounts of time. Lawmakers are forced to try to balance their duties such as meeting with lobbyists while making time to vote, which isn't always possible. The use of the voting machine would help to assure that ghost voting isn't occurring, but for those who choose not to use it, the issue will not be eliminated. On top of that, for those lawmakers who do wish to use the fingerprint machine, they must be present for the voting sessions in order to input their votes.

I believe that the fingerprint voting machines are a clever idea that, to some extent, can reduce ghost voting. Ghost voting has the ability to let lawmakers have their vote heard when they are away, yet there will always be the chance of identity theft, or cheating on votes. Overall, the method almost seems to be an unnecessary step unless the House Representatives can agree to put forth the effort to attend the sessions and input their votes. Without the votes of our lawmakers, it seems like bills may slip by due to the lack of time or desire to attend the sessions.

Response on Prop 2

The latest blog entry by Uninformed Texan, entitled 'Developing in Austin', covers the issue of Proposition 2 which was turned down on election day. Proposition 2 is the proposed amendment of the current ability for the city to give retail businesses tax subsidies. This has been a highly controversial voting topic within Austin, particularly in regards to the Domain because this would be one of the main businesses affected. Both sides have great points in the matter, the whole point is to pick which are most important. The votes prove this with 52% of votes against Prop 2, and the other 48% supporting it, according to Bizjournal's article on the subject.

I agree with Uninformed Texan's idea that "a city's ability to attract potential developers is what can make or break a city." It is important that businesses continue to thrive and increase in quantity so that Austin's citizens will have not only more job opportunities, but also increase in wealth. Being able to offer developers tax break incentives definitely does raise the chances of new businesses being established, but even without them, many smaller business continue to open up. Local businesses play an essential role in Austin due to the diversity of needs and people residing here.

It has been said that if the proposition were to pass, many contracts would be broken, resulting in "lawsuits and legal fees" which taxpayers would absorb. But the fact is, this statement is only a prediction possibly even used as a scare tactic toward voters. However, there is the chance that some sort of lawsuits could occur, and then yes, it would affect taxpayers.

In my opinion, it's unfair that taxpayers have no voice on where these taxes are going to business-wise. But the fact is, there are some cases where incentives would be very helpful, and ridding the council of any choice on the matter wouldn't be beneficial overall.

Lawmakers prepare bills for January

This past Monday, November 10, 2008, was the first day that lawmakers were able to file bills that will be debated in the legislative session this coming January. The state of Texas is more financially able than many other states, but due to a few certain issues such as Hurricane Ike funds and the federal-state health insurance program, the budget is limited so the bills passed must be taken into great consideration finance-wise. A few of these proposed bills are giving insight as to what lawmakers will be possibly passing.

One of Senator Jane Nelson's propositions is turning fingerprint-based background checks into a requirement for those who will be working at nursing homes or with those who are mentally ill. She believes that technology should be taken advantage of and that using fingerprints would be a suitable replacement for just the original criminal background checks which may overlook important criminal history.

Senator Bob Deuell has proposed that some children ought to be able to use Medicaid, with the condition that their parents must pay a premium. This bill would be proactive because currently, only families that have a limited amount of income are able to qualify, and now parents will be able to obtain better jobs without having to worry about completely losing their children's insurance.

A final bill proposal by Senator Dan Patrick will require all women to have an ultrasound before they can have an abortion. Patrick's main hope is that women will see the image of the baby and choose to carry through with their pregnancies-whether it results in adoption or raising the child themselves. This is not the first bill related to the topic of abortion to be proposed; last year the Senate passed a similar one but never made it through the House.

At this point, Republicans outnumber the amount of Democrats-more specifically 76 to 74-but even after ballots have been counted, there are still speculations on whether these numbers are accurate. With Democrats filling the seats, there is the chance that some of these proposed bills will not have much hope in being passed.

Such proposals concerning very fragile topics such as abortion will be likely to cause heated debates not only in the legislative session, but amongst taxpayers who would be made to pay higher taxes for something they may strongly oppose.

The Big Day

Well, Barack Obama is our 44th president. Usually I can express myself but right now my emotions are all over the place.

Yes or No to Proposition 2?

On the Austin American-Statesman website is an editorial entitled 'Just say no to Proposition 2' which is about why Proposition 2 ought to be turned down. Proposition 2 would change the city charter that was put in place about five years ago, and the city will no longer be allowed to offer financial aid to businesses involving retail. The author's main points for being against Proposition 2 is that costly lawsuits would occur and the city would be restrained on new businesses flourishing. In addition, the amendment would make the city "break its promise" and a contract would be violated. Brian Rodgers is a business owner in support of this proposition but throughout this article he is made to sound like he is just holding a grudge from years ago.
This article is aimed toward all Austin voters who have not yet voted and plan to. The author is obviously against Proposition 2 and plays off the reader's fears in order to make a point. For example, saying that there WOULD be lawsuits isn't an accurate statement since the author is only assuming there would be. Personally, I am torn on the topic of Proposition 2 because I've heard the term so often and yet knew so little about what it actually entails. Even when researching it to try and find out more, it's difficult to try and weed through the opinions of everyone and get down to the facts. I would think that if Proposition 2 were passed, then taxpayers would know where their tax dollars are going to. Honestly, there are still a lot of questions that were left unanswered for me after reading this article....

Sticking With Incumbents?

Browsing the Austin American-Statesman, I came across an opinion-based article entitled 'Texas House of Representatives: Stick with incumbents for Austin House seats'. This article's main point is made clear through the title: don't vote in new house representatives and stick with what we've already got. The author outlines Districts 47, 48, and 50 which make up parts of Travis County. Based on the evidence given throughout the article, the author has an obvious bias toward the current district representatives who happen to all be Democratic. If you look closely at this piece of writing, the author provides weak details concerning their reasoning for the incumbents that they favor. One example is Democratic incumbent Valinda Bolton in District 47 up against the Republican Donna Keel. The only argument the author makes against Keel is that she is undecided about “supporting House Speaker Tom Craddick” when apparently they have “close ties”. In my opinion this shouldn't be a breaking factor for a candidate, and the reader ought to stop and see this sort of reasoning as something to weed out. In the separate section concerning District 48, Donna Howard who is the current Democratic incumbent is vaguely described in one paragraph and portrayed as what I would see as too perfect. Republican Pam Waggoner has one brief sentence mentioning her as owning an insurance company but that it “may not be her year.” Overall, this article includes some elements of facts about the representatives, but is highly altered to appear as make or break factors in who the readers should consider. The author makes it very clear that they favor the Democratic incumbents and even states that we should “stay with the incumbents.” I'd say this article is supposed to appeal first off to other Democrats who may be uninformed on the House incumbents and are planning on voting. It could possibly be directed toward Republicans also but if so, there definitely should have been more factual information and less personal opinions. I respect the author's decision to express their opinions through the statesman, however I don't agree with the reasoning and the points seemed very close-minded. Overall, if his or her goal was to persuade the general audience, it didn't work for me.


"Texas House of Representatives: Stick with incumbents for Austin House seats." 18 Oct 2008 21 Oct 2008

Maldonado vs. Daniel

Searching through local news pages, I came across an article entitled "Williamson County state house race could shift political power" under KVUE's news section. This shift mentioned would be from the usually Republican Williamson County to possibly turning Democratic. The Democrats need to take five more seats around the state in order for this to be accomplished. Diana Maldonado represents the Democratic party, with Republican Bryan Daniel running against her in order to replace Rep. Mike Krusee in the Texas House. Both have completely different priorities on important issues: Maldonado sees public education as number one, Daniel is worried about property taxes. If basing the race on the financial reports, one might think that Maldonado has full advantage over Daniel seeing as he's approximately $259,000 behind the Democratic campaign. However, the reports aren't necessary indicative of upcoming outcomes seeing as House District 52 has been known for choosing Republican candidates. The article quotes Maldonado as saying that "Democrats in Williamson County do remain the underdogs" but the volunteers at the Williamson County Democratic Headquarters are dedicated in gaining support and helping other democrats and undecided voters. I found this article very informative because I learned more about the seats of the Texas House and what steps must be made for a political change to possibly occur within our community. Moreover, the information found in the writing is very easy to understand and straightforward which was enjoyable! Definitely worth a look in my opinion.


Hu, Elise. "Williamson County state house race could shift political power." 10 Oct 2008 10 Oct 2008