Nick Jimenez

Sunday, September 24, 2000

Voters to face dizzying array of decisions

So you want to vote on everything that comes down the pike, do you? You say you're not getting a chance to say your piece? Come Nov. 7, you'll get your chance, and in spades.
   Our mail box is continually filled with squeals from those who say important decisions are being made and they're not getting their 2 cents' worth heard. Or to put it in the words of some of our more artful letters writers, "they are cramming it down our throats."
   Such as "ramming down" the Mary Rhodes Pipeline that is keeping Corpus Christi and its neighbors in water while the rest of Texas measures out the stuff by the cupful. Such as "ramming down" that raising of the John F. Kennedy Causeway that will provide a ready hurricane evacuation route for the islands.
   But what do I know? I thought those projects enhanced Corpus Christi, added to the glory of living here and made it a better place to raise a family.
   But mere reason makes no difference to the folks who are always having things rammed down their throat. Perhaps their pleas were finally heard in the more rarefied places in the democracy. Or maybe someone simply applied the wisdom of H. L. Mencken, who wrote tjat "democracy is the theory that common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
   If the amount of choice at the voting booth equals food for the masses, we're in for a veritable banquet Nov. 7. In fact, you might want to take a lunch to the voting booth; you might be there a while.
   For starters, there is the obvious fact that this is a presidential election year. Thus, you can bank on a large turnout. If you're the type that hates waiting in a line, time to stock up on patience.
   When you actually get to the voting booth, the real work begins. You will face a possible 36 positions up for election, everything from the White House to the constable. Of those, any one voter might be facing 21 contested races, many of those posts including candidates from the Green Party, which recently sprouted on the state ballot, and the ever dependable, if quirky, Libertarian Party.
   Maybe the Democrats just wanted to make things easier on voters by fielding just a handful of candidates for state office.
   But wait. The fun is just beginning.
   City voters then have the opportunity to plow through the seven propositions offered up by City Hall. Citizens get to vote whether they will fund a new arena, repair the bayfront seawall, set aside money for economic development, approve $31 million in bonds for streets, parks, public health and safety, and decide whether they want to unload some park land. All of it will be presented in language, no doubt, that would put insomniacs to sleep and delight the hearts of lawyers.
   Are we having fun? As the announcer for the infomercials on those Japanese knives would say, "and there's more."
   There's the matter of five seats on the Del Mar College Board of Regents up for election for those within its district. This is no minor matter: We're talking decisions that affect a major institution of higher learning.
   All this is aside from assorted elections in other locales, such as the proposition being voted on in 11 precincts in the Calallen area having to do with the running of rural fire district No. 5.
   Diana Barrera, elections supervisor with the county clerk's office, says the ballot will be two full pages, both front and back.
   We're speaking of a desperate need here for an electorate that does its homework before it gets to the voting booth. There's no time to waste in studying the issues.
   The county clerk will help by posting a sample ballot on its web site, but the real work depends on individual voters researching the issues, reading the newspaper, and studying the decisions to be made.
   You wanted your chance. Now you get it. Enjoy!
  
  (Nick Jimenez can be reached by phone at 886-3772, or by e-mail at jimenezn@caller.com)
  
  
  

 
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