The ballot order has been determined for the November city elections. You can click over and see them, I’ll just use this opportunity to once again say how ridiculous it is that in the year 2013 we are still drawing names out of a hat for ballot order. There’s no technical reason why our electronic voting machines cannot be made to randomize ballot order in non-partisan and primary races for each voter. Whatever advantage there may be to appearing first (or last) on the ballot, we should not let that have any effect on our elections. A technical fix would be simple, but first we’d need the Legislature to mandate it. Maybe if they spent a little less time chasing the vote fraud phantom and spent a little more time thinking about how to make elections better we could have this.
Meanwhile, HCC has announced its lineup for the fall election:
The following candidates filed an Application for a Place on the November 5, 2013 General Election Ballot:
District
Candidates
(Listed alphabetical last name)
Term Expiration
I
Zeph Capo
Yolanda Navarro Flores
Kevin J. Hoffman
December 31, 2013
(Expired Term)
II
Bruce A. Austin
Dave Wilson
December 31, 2013
(Expired Term)
III
Dane D. Cook
Herlinda Garcia
Adriana Tamez
December 31, 2015
(Unexpired Term)
V
Roy A. Cormier
Robert Glaser
Phil Kunetka
December 31, 2017
(Unexpired Term)
VII
Neeta Sane
Ann Williams
December 31, 2013
(Expired Term)
The big news here is that District V Trustee Leila Feldman, who had been appointed to replace Richard Schechter when he resigned, is not running for a full term. I had said that she was, based on not having heard otherwise. Of the three who are running in V, Glaser is a previous City Council candidate, and I know nothing about the other two. Neeta Sane and Bruce Austin both picked up opponents on deadline day; I presume that’s the same tiresome Dave Wilson that has inflicted himself in recent city of Houston and Democratic primary elections, but I don’t know for sure. Anyway, I’ve updated the 2013 Election page as best I can with what I can find. As always, if I’m missing something that you know about, please leave a comment or drop me a note. Thanks.