Editor’s Note: The Rider asked UTRGV political science professors to explain the significance of the proposed constitutional amendments. This is the second of two articles.
Early voting for the Nov. 7 election on 14 proposed Texas constitutional amendments, including a retirement age increase for judges and the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, starts today and continues through Nov. 3.
The UTRGV Student Academic Center on the Edinburg campus is one of the 29 early voting locations in Hidalgo County.
The Cameron County Judicial Complex, located at 954 E. Harrison St. in Brownsville, is one of the 16 polling locations in the county.
UTRGV experts explained what some of the proposed constitutional amendments mean and their importance.
Mark Kaswan, a political science professor, said Proposition 1 would establish a right for people who own a ranch.
“People who own in rural areas, who own ranch land, basically, farmers, ranchers, people who are on land for the purpose of wildlife management, things like that,” Kaswan said. “Which is kind of funny, like, why do we have to establish a right for that. And the explanation that’s given is that Texas is growing. And the cities in Texas are growing.”
He said a concern raised by Proposition 1 is that it “would actually empower large-scale industrial farming and it might make it more difficult to enact regulations that are meant to protect small family farms.”
Andrew Smith, a political science assistant professor and pre-law adviser, said Proposition 2 would benefit working parents.
“Proposition 2 allows local governments to exempt child-care facilities from property taxes,” Smith said. “The logic behind this is that it will make it easier for one, new child-care facilities to emerge, and two, perhaps lower the cost of enrolling children in these facilities, which helps working parents out a lot.”
Proposition 10 would authorize the Texas Legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation equipment or inventory held by a manufacturer of medical or biomedical products.
“So in the case of Prop 10, what it does is it exempts equipment and inventory in the biomedical industry from property taxes,” Kaswan said. “Most biomedical products in the state are imported, so there’s very little biomedical industry in the state. And, so, it’s a way of helping to promote, you know, that industry.”
Proposition 11 would apply only to El Paso County.
“It allows El Paso County to issue property tax-funded municipal bonds to pay for building and maintaining public parks and recreational areas,” Smith said. “So even though this is something confined to El Paso, this would only affect El Paso County.”
He said Proposition 11 would expand the number of recreational areas in El Paso, which would improve quality of life, health, environment and make the city a more attractive place to move to.
Kaswan said Proposition 12 would affect only Galveston County.
It would allow the abolition of the office of county treasurer in Galveston County.
“For some reason Galveston County wants to get rid of their county treasurer,” Kaswan said. “They say that the things that a county treasurer does are being fulfilled, you know, are spread out among different offices. I guess, in that county, they had a vote, and the people of Galveston County said they wanted to get rid of the office.”
Proposition 13 would increase the mandatory retirement age for judges in Texas.
“All Texas judges must retire at the age of 75,” Smith said. “This constitutional amendment would raise that age to 79. It would also raise the minimum retirement age from 70 to 75.”
He said if passed, the proposition would affect incumbent Republican judges.
“Raising the retirement age will make it easier for Republicans to maintain an absolute control over all branches of the Texas judiciary since many of the judges that would be affected by this change are incumbent Republicans,” Smith said.
Proposition 14 would allow the creation of the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund to be used for the creation and improvement of state parks.
Kaswan said it would provide a steady revenue stream for the State Parks and Wildlife program.
“One of the things is that it creates what’s called a trust fund,” he said. “I mean, that’s basically it. So, people have noted that Texas has a lower acreage of parks than most other states. … So, you know, as the population grows, more people want to use the parks, and parks need more money to operate. So, this creates a dedicated fund to support that.”
Several cities and school districts will also conduct elections for board of trustees and municipal posts and bond issues, including Edinburg, where two councilmember seats are up for election. Incumbent Johnny Garcia is being challenged by David Salazar for the Place 3 position. Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano is challenging incumbent David White for the Place 4 seat.
Smith encourages students to vote.
“I think students need to understand that elections are the way for them to get their voices heard,” he said. “It’s a cliche for a reason. Millennials and, especially, Gen Zers participate at high levels in politics, but they don’t do the one thing that ultimately approves most policy changes and that’s vote. So, constitutional amendments and local elections are two very important ways that students can go out and make their voice heard in democracy.”
Early voting sites in Hidalgo County are open from:
–7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today through Saturday
–10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday
–7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 30-Nov. 3
To view the 29 Hidalgo County voting sites, visit its website.
Early voting sites in Cameron County are open from:
–9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today through Friday
–10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
–9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 30-Nov. 1
–8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 2 and 3
To view the Cameron County voting sites, visit its website.
There are seven acceptable forms of photo ID to present at the polling location: a Texas driver’s license, Texas ID, Texas election ID certificate, Texas handgun license, U.S. citizenship certificate with photo, U.S. military ID card with photo and U.S. passport.
For more information on the amendments and voting on Texas, visit votetexas.gov.
