One of the big selling points of the slate of three propositions championed by Dallas HERO was accountability. “To the citizens of Dallas: You shined a spotlight on the lack of priority and problem-solving at City Hall, and you voted for a way forward that is now the law of the land,” the organization said in a statement on Election Day.
The fact is this: much like Dorothy and the ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz, Dallas voters have had a great deal of power all along, specifically to hold its elected leaders accountable. We just don’t.
Look at four quick snapshots: the bond election last May, the 2023 mayoral vote, the 2019 mayoral vote, and the vote on Proposition S last Tuesday. I did some back-of-the-envelope math. There are roughly (based on turnout in the May 2024 bond election) 668,821 registered voters in the city of Dallas. On November 5, 341,066 of the city’s voters cast ballots for or against Proposition S, which is about half of the registered voters in the city.
Half. Put a pin in that, because now we’re going to talk about turnout in May elections, where you can actually vote out council members and mayors and weigh in on things like $1.2 billion bonds. (Yes, Proposition D passed last week, but Dallas still needs legislative approval to move its elections to November.) In May’s bond election, 41,093 Dallas residents voted, or about 6 percent. In May 2023, when Mayor Eric Johnson ran unopposed, he got 42,990 votes, and there were another 3,227 write-in votes. This means roughly 7 percent of the city’s 650,607 registered voters turned out. In 2019, with nine candidates on the ballot for mayor, we had our best turnout in some time: 12 percent, with 80,871 of the city’s then 651,697 registered voters turning out.
So back to last Tuesday. More than 50 percent of registered voters weighed in on measures that were marketed as ways to hold the city more accountable. Almost 28 percent of them voted in favor of Proposition S, which requires the city to waive immunity in lawsuits and allows people to sue the city for not abiding by its charter, ordinances, or state law. To be precise, 187,338 people voted for this measure. But when it comes time to choose the people who will be responsible for upholding it, history says that fewer than half of those voters will show up to vote.
Candidates will officially begin filing to run for city council on January 15. Early voting will begin on April 21. If voters truly care about accountability and city government, they need to turn out in May.
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