We know many of you on this list live in Lee County, but wanted to share this with you as we’re sure you know folks who live in Bastrop County.
We attended a school board election debate last night for the Bastrop Independent School District.
Based on this event, please consider voting for Debra Thorne-Frances in Place 6 and Steve Miller in Place 7. Though there is much to say about the positions of the candidates on a range of issues, upon which they mostly agree, one issue had clear lines of difference. That was the issue of geographic representation (aka single-member districts) for school board elections. Steve and Debra strongly support geographic representation, their opponents strongly oppose them.
Geographic district representation for BISD would be a MAJOR reform in how we elect board members and, I believe, would make them much more accountable to the people in each area of Bastrop County.
Right now all voters in the county vote for all places on the board, which pretty much guarantees that no one on the board really represents YOUR community. Board members may be well intended, but they cannot know what it is like to live in all areas of the county.
In addition, this “at-large” system pretty much guarantees that the person with the most money for signs and a campaign organization wins. If we had single-member districts, candidates could more easily work their area door-to-door, which would encourage more people to run. It would also be more engaging for the voters.
We hope you will consider voting for Miller and Thorne-Frances so that they can lead an effort to win geographic representation for all of Bastrop County. Early voting is now. Here’s the information you need
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