HUTTO – In the coming years, City Council and the Hutto Independent School District will approve millions of dollars in projects that are already in the works, make decisions on property-tax rates and plot the course for community growth.
The six council members, the mayor and the seven school board members that make up the governing bodies of the Hutto community are all elected positions. While some may argue these are the most powerful people in the local bureaucracy, in reality the relatively few people who vote in local elections are the ones with the power to change public policy by changing who sits in office.
“I don’t know, I just don’t really think it matters. I didn’t know that much about (the candidates),” said Hutto resident Sonia Melendez. Melendez, a registered voter, said she rarely votes, and did not vote in the May 6 election.
Melendez is not alone in thinking her vote isn’t important. According to a poll conducted by National Public Radio, the main reason for voter apathy nationwide is that people don’t believe voting impacts their lives.
But in small towns, where the difference between winners and losers can be as little as a handful of votes, those who exercise their rights at the polls can enact real change.
Here’s how the May 6 election numbers could have been different if more people had voted. Ballot totals are from the Williamson County elections department: 4 — Number of votes the city council needs to approve the tax rate each year. A simple majority of the seven members is all that is needed, so every council member has the potential to impact residents’ property-tax bills. Three council seats were up for election, potentially enough to change the direction of city leadership.
193 — The number of additional votes Robin Sutton would have needed in order to keep her Place 1 council seat, which she lost to Brian Thompson. Sutton had 551 votes to Thompson’s 743.
458 — The number of votes it took to reelect Peter Gordon to City Council Place 4. Challenger Nicole Calderone gathered 457 votes to Gordon’s 867. The runoff is June 10; early voting is May 30 to June 2.
42 — The number of additional votes Dana Wilcott needed in order to avoid a run-off and win the Place 5 seat. In the three-way race, Wilcott won the majority of the votes but failed to collect more than 50%. The run-off will be between her and the candidate with the second-highest number of votes, James Weaver.
3 — The number of additional votes Marcus Coleman needed to be included in the run-off for Place 5 instead of Weaver. Wilcott won 609 votes, Weaver got 347 and Coleman 345.
7.54 — The percentage of registered voters who cast ballots in the Hutto city election; just 1,451 out of 19,229. According to Williamson County elections department, the percentage of voter participation countywide was 9.22% 6.44 — The percentage of participating registered voters in Hutto ISD. The district has 31,676 registered voters, and only 2,042 came out to vote on the $522 million bond issue.
Less than 450 — The number of additional “no” votes that would have been needed to defeat any of the three bond propositions.
0 — The number of people that voted for a change in district leadership. Two board member seats were up for election, but no community members applied to challenge incumbent board members Shara Turner and Felix Chavez, so the board election was canceled.
