Danny Frank's Blog

Published May 15, 2007

A hot ballot issue and highly contested races helped propel a solid turnout for Saturday’s election, nowhere higher than Pearland, where $162 million worth of city bond issues more than tripled participation.

The tightest race of the election, however, came in the city with the lowest turnout. Just 24 people cast ballots in the Ward D race that ended in a tie between incumbent Travis Quinn and Michael Binnion, and less than 6 percent of voters turned out citywide.

“That particular ward is my smallest that actually votes because many live in apartments,” said Clute City Clerk Sarah Oakes. “I guess people were just too busy to vote. It’s a trend all over in the country. The national percentage was low as well.”

That was not the case in Pearland and Pearland ISD.

There were 3,461 ballots cast in Pearland’s city elections, more than three times the 1,142 who voted in last year’s municipal election. The school district had more than double the number of voters from last year, with 4,162 votes recorded this year compared to 1,692 last May.

Pearland had the highest number of voters, but only 8.65 percent of its registered voters actually cast a ballot. Quintana’s general election had the highest turnout with 47.5 percent, or 28 votes.

All the Sweeny races — the city, hospital district and the school district — had large jumps in turnout. A close race for Sweeny City Council Position 2, where Neal Bess won by only four votes, aided participation.

With no incumbents running this year, people were more interested in the campaigns, said Allen Schoppe, Sweeny ISD’s business manager. The availability of the polls were a factor as well, Schoppe said.

“Moving the early voting here helped tremendously. I didn’t see anybody going crazy while campaigning, but I’m happy that people came out,” Schoppe said.

In Clute’s Ward D, the winner could be decided by any overseas ballot that come in Friday. If the race is still tied, then the votes will be manually recounted.

If the vote remains split, the candidates will decide what will happen. They can either decide to have a runoff, draw for the winner or one can resign, Oakes said.

Binnion, a 48-year-old engineering technician, said he wished there had been a larger turnout for his race and is concentrating on “regrouping” for the possible runoff. He said he thinks it’s essential for everyone to vote because people start “losing their rights otherwise.”

“If it had probably been a better turnout,” Binnion said, “One of us would have won for sure. We have to get more people interested in their government. You don’t want your elected officials to be chosen by drawing straws or a flip of a coin — that’s not how our country was founded. It was by the people for the people.”

Quinn said he knocked on doors and got positive responses but was disappointed only 12 people actually voted for him, which included himself and his wife.

“I knocked on doors and got positive responses,” Quinn said, “but then nobody shows up for the polls. I can’t drag them out. They decide for themselves if it’s worth it to go out. I feel embarrassed for me and Mr. Binnion. We go out and knock on these doors, and only 10 people cared.”

Quinn said he isn’t sure what he wants to do if the tie remains but said he hopes people will understand his viewpoint on the election results.

“I felt like it wasn’t important. I mean I would have gotten elected from 13 votes. To me, that’s kind of sad. I’m just getting over the disappointment,” Quinn said.

Including this year’s categories, Alvin ISD had the second-lowest turnout at 6.89 percent.

Kim Thai is a reporter for The Facts. Contact her at (979) 237-0149.

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