Tuesday, February 8, 2011

A Viable Democracy Requires an Educated Voter

". . . whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right." - Thomas Jefferson
One of the key pieces of legislation we are monitoring in the Texas legislature is SB 139, Relating to the elimination of straight-party voting. The bill has been filed by Senator Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio. A companion bill has been filed in the House, HB 638, by Dan Branch (R-Dallas), Cindy Burkett (R-Mesquite), Jim Murphy (R-Houston) and Stefani Carter (R-Dallas/Garland). The Senate bill has been referred to the State Affairs committee. Rowlett's state senator, Dr. Bob Deuell is the Vice-chair for that committee.


The Rowlett TEA Party supports this legislation, joining other conservative groups across the state, including the Dallas County Republican Party Executive Committee. We support this bill because the straight party ballot encourages voters to be uninformed about the candidates they choose. Uninformed voters damage the very foundation of our system of government.


Please let Senator Deuell know you support SB 139 and the elimination of straight-party voting and want him to support Sen. Wentworth's bill in committee.


The Honorable Bob Deuell
P.O. Box 12068
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711
(512) 463-0102
(512) 463-7202 fax


2500 Stonewall St.
Greenville, Texas 75401
(903) 450-9797
Fax (903) 450-9796


18601 LBJ Freeway, Suite 400
Mesquite, Texas 75150
(972) 279-1800
fax (972) 279-1065


or you can send him a message through his web page: http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist2/dist2.htm

For more on Straight-party voting:
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