Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Voters decide fate of bond proposal today

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Saturday, June 12, 1999

Voters decide fate of bond proposal today
25,000 expected to vote on JFK, Packery, fairgrounds
By Jennifer Stump
Caller-Times

An estimated 25,000 last-chance voters will head to the polls today to decide the fate of Nueces County's $38.5 million bond proposal.
   The all-or-nothing plan would use a combination of county, state and federal money to open Packery Channel, raise the JFK Causeway to at least nine feet above sea level and build a county fairgrounds in Robstown.
   It would also divert highway money to help widen Farm-to-Market Road 624 in Calallen, although that project will not appear on the ballot.
   Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
   The election has already sent Padre Island residents to the polls in record numbers. During early voting, more than 29 percent of registered voters on the island cast ballots, according to the District Clerk's office.
   "This is staggering," said Bob Bezdek, professor of political science at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. "I've never heard of 29 percent. I didn't think it could be that high."
   If that voting trend continues today, island residents - who traditionally turn out in high numbers - will cast more ballots than they usually do during general elections. They have already surpassed their turnout for the city election in April, when a heated City Council race in their district bucked tradition and became a partisan contest.
   They've got good reason to hit the polls. The three bond projects will cost a total of $90 million, $70 million of which would be spent on the island to dredge Packery Channel and raise the causeway.
   "My assumption is that they're going to vote pretty strongly for it and that they're going to vote for the causeway," Bezdek said.
   County Clerk Ernest Briones predicted that about 40,000 people, or 20 percent of the county's registered voters, will cast ballots in this election. More than 13,000 people voted early, with most of the ballots coming from the island, Flour Bluff and the southern portion of Corpus Christi. Almost 13 percent of voters in Port Aransas have cast early ballots.
   "The Southside was coming on real strong and the west side of the county was not," Briones said. "That surprised me. Normally I have a pretty good idea by now about how the election is going to go. This one has got me a little confused."
   The final tally is likely to be a close one, within 10 percent, Bezdek said. The margin of victory or defeat in the county election will indicate whether residents would support a city bond election to improve streets and repair damage to the seawall, or if something like a downtown sports arena could get significant voter support, he said.
   "I think this election is a bit more important than some people think," Bezdek said. "This election is really going to tell us what we can do in the future."
   Supporters and opponents of the election said they plan to hit some of the county's 122 polling locations today, hoping to sway people who have been sitting on the fence since the county announced the election package in March.
   "Our biggest challenge will be to get that vote out," said John Trice, a member of Citizens for Nueces County's Future, a group supporting the bond election. "We will not take anything for granted until the polls close."
   Likewise, Pat Suter, member of Citizens Against Blackmail, a group opposing the election, said campaign efforts would continue until this evening.
   "I don't like to count on anything until the votes come in," she said.
   Rain shouldn't keep voters away the polls, said Brian Brong, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
   In fact, there's no chance of it, he said. Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 80s on the coast and in the lower 90s inland. Skies will be partly cloudy.



Staff writer Jennifer Stump can be reached at 886-3778 or by email at stumpj@caller.com

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