What's on the Dallas–Fort Worth Ballot Tuesday: a $443 Million Public-Safety Bond, a County Tax Vote and Collin's $817.5 Million Package
Beyond the Senate and governor's races, Tuesday's ballot asks Dallas voters for $443 million for public safety, Dallas County voters for a tax-rate increase for homelessness programs, and Collin County voters for $817.5 million - with no statewide amendments anywhere on it.
The top of Tuesday's ballot gets the attention - the U.S. Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico, which a University of Texas poll this summer showed as a near tie, and the governor's race. The bottom of the ballot is where the local money is. Dallas voters will decide Proposition A, a $443 million public-safety bond, drawn from the City of Dallas's official notice of election. Dallas County voters will decide a tax-rate increase for homelessness programs, on the county's tax-rate election page. And Collin County voters face an $817.5 million bond package on the county's official sample ballot, while Plano voters decide an arena tax.
Texas ballots do not say yes and no - they say FOR and AGAINST, and the Dallas Patriot's voter guide, built from the Secretary of State's official election calendar and the local official notices, paraphrases what each choice does proposition by proposition. One statewide fact simplifies every North Texas ballot this year: there are no statewide constitutional amendments on the Texas ballot, so every proposition a voter meets on Tuesday is a local one, decided by the people it taxes and serves.
The mechanics are settled. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, with polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; mail ballots can be delivered in person to the county elections office by 7 p.m. that day - Dallas County Elections sits at 1520 Round Table Drive in Dallas. Texas requires an approved form of photo ID to vote in person, and sample ballots and polling places are posted by each county - DallasCountyVotes.org for Dallas County, and VoteTexas.gov for registration checks statewide. The weekend is the time to read the propositions, because Tuesday's line is not.
