Republican Primary - Election Day is Tuesday March 1st
Polls open from 7AM to 7PM Registered voters in Ellis County can vote at any voting location. Keep in mind, if you want to minimize your time standing in line, you may want to avoid the Midlothian Conference Center and look for nearby polling places. For example the Mountain Peak Baptist Church is located on the corner of 663 & 875 and rarely has anyone in line.
You will see 10 Propositions on the ballot. Think of these as a survey, which is used by the Republican Party of Texas to develop legislative priorities.
A Message from the Chair
I hope all of you are staying safe during all this crazy weather. Wait a day or two, and we will be wearing short sleeves and shorts.
Well, in a few days we will be coming to the end of the first leg of the primary election. Because we have so many people running in our state-wide races and a few local races, we are sure to have some run-off races in May.
March is a very busy month:
Tuesday, March 1st is election day.
The first Saturday, March 5th, we will hold Precinct Conventions at 10:00 a.m.; the location of each Precinct Convention is posted on the website (https://www.elliscountygop.org/).
The Senatorial District Conventions will be held on Saturday, March 26th, at 8:00 a.m. at the Women’s Building in Waxahachie located at 407 W. Jefferson St. in Waxahachie. Registration and temporary committees will start at 8:00 a.m. Both SD2 and SD22 will meet there at the same time. These meetings are very important; this is where resolutions can be submitted that can shape the platform of the Republican Party of Texas. During the convention, candidates who have won their primaries or are in a run-off will come through and address the convention. This will allow delegates more time to get to know the candidates. The more people who participate, the better the results will be.
The 2022 Texas State Republican Convention will be held June 16 – 18, at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Thursday June 16th starts at 10 a.m. Testimony before temporary committees is earlier that week.
A lot of time and work from a lot of people goes into our conventions. Thank you to each one who is working to make them a success.
Because the first Tuesday of the month is election day, we will not hold our monthly meeting. The next meeting will be April 5th at 6:30 p.m. at the Texas Motorplex Champion Club.
I want to thank everyone who stepped up to fill the slots for election workers for this primary! Our goal is to have every election worker in Ellis County involved in the party in some form. Ellis County Republican Women and the Ellis County Young Republican’s members have joined in to make our elections secure. We have numbered ballots again and we will continue to be diligent in finding trustworthy Republican election workers.
Precinct Conventions are March 5 this coming Saturday so please check the website for your location and be sure you attend and invite friends!
The County/Senate District Conventions will be colocated at the Women’s Building in Waxahachie in March 26 with doors opening at 8am. I am still looking for sponsors ! Please let me know if you are interested.
Lunch will be hosted at the Railport. Breakfast (sponsored by Representative Brian Harrison), Lunch and Snacks will be provided so you don’t have to worry about anything that day just show up and enjoy the fellowship and the process!
Remind your family, friends and neighbors to vote Tuesday March 1st!
Big Changes in the voting precincts in Ellis County. The redistricting created 10 additional precincts and adjusted the borders on many existing precincts. All of the precincts have also been renumbered. To review the new maps visit the "Precincts" page on the Ellis County GOP website. Here you will find links to high resolution PDFs of the following maps (you can click on these to download each):
I was elbows deep in bathroom repair on President's Day. My neighbors rang the doorbell, and they wanted to talk to me about how they should vote come Election Day. How fitting for President's Day. Of course I obliged. We went over the ENTIRE ballot. Ya know something? There were a lot of names on that ballot! I talk with folks weekly, sometimes daily it feels about the direction of our state, city, and county. I talk with them about my experience in public education. We talk about my predictions and their predictions. We discuss our local elected officials. We briefly visit the subjects of school boards and city councils in Ellis County. Growth is always a subject of interest. There are so many facets when we are discussing these items. The point? Our neighbors care about what is going on too. They want to know how we can keep this snowball from getting bigger. Just think back to Christmas 2019. Nobody would have guessed this dystopian world would descend upon us in just a few short months. Even as I think of this I do remember Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
Part of God's purpose for me right now is learning and making others aware of the ins and outs of state and local government. Wrapping up the conversation with my neighbors on President's Day they said to me, "Thank you for taking time out of your day to talk with us." I just replied, "It's kind of a hobby." Which is true, but it's more than that. It's the very thing that keeps us a Republic.
In 2017 the city of Midlothian annexed a large number of properties in their southeast Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (aka ETJ). State law required the city to sign a development agreement to those property owners that who had land used for agriculture, timber or wildlife management. Louis Ponder was among the list of property owners whose property was annexed. According to state law, the agreements could be anywhere between 5 years and 45 years. Midlothian chose the minimum and refused to negotiate at all.
Over the next two years, Ponder led a group of concerned citizens to gather over 13,000 signatures on a petition requiring a ballot referendum that moved Ellis county from “Tier 1” to “Tier 2” status. This created a requirement where any effort by a city to annex adjacent land must first hold a ballot referendum where the residents could choose or decline to be annexed. Not long after this, a bill was signed into law by Governor Abbott that mandated this ballot referendum statewide and thus eliminated the two “Tier” system.
With the help of Walter Darrach, Ponder was able to get the discussion of amending the agreements on the agenda at the September 9, 2021 council meeting. During that meeting it became obvious that along with Walter Darrach, Justin Coffman, Clark Wickliffe and Hud Hartson supported the idea of amending those 5-year agreements signed four years earlier. On December 7, 2021 a workshop was held where an agreement was reached that would amend the development agreement from 5 to 45 years, the maximum allowed by state law.
On February 22, 2022 the Midlothian City Council voted unanimously to accept this amendment and offer these new agreements to all property owners that had the 5-year Development Agreements forced upon them. Throughout this multi-year process Louis Ponder remained informed and involved and successfully got much done.
This Tuesday represents your opportunity to cast your vote in the Republican Primary. Even with the increase in voter turnout that seems to be trending, we will very likely see less than 15% of the registered Ellis county voters vote. In many of the local primary races the candidates will not have a Democrat opponent in November. Meaning less than 15% of the registered voters will determine who will be on the ballot this fall. While most of us won’t take on a quest the way Ponder did with the annexation/development amendment issue, we can all get informed, get involved and at a bare minimum get out and vote!
When you become a Legacy Circle member of the Republican Party of Ellis County you will be a vital part of helping us build a powerful and influential presence.
Your contribution will help keep Ellis County and the great state of Texas, RED!
Your valuable contribution will go directly to providing a permanent location for our GOP Headquarters in Ellis County which allows us to do the following:
1. Hold our GOP monthly meetings open to all citizens
2. Have training for Precinct Chairman and volunteers
3. Host our ‘Get Out The Vote’ efforts at election time
4. House our resources such as our candidate campaign signs and literature
5. Be a center for town hall meetings to educate and inform our citizens
There are several levels of membership – please choose the one that is right for you!
Please note, any candidate advertisements within this publication are included in accordance with sponsorship or advertising agreeements. This does not represent an endorsement of any candidate by the ECREC.
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February 2022
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