Will You Turn Out to Vote on Saturday?
I just called the Dallas County Elections Department to find out how many registered voters live in City Council Districts 11 and 13. The answers I got were 40,892 and 49,960, respectively. Now, how many of those people will actually cast a vote in this election?
This is District 11’s first contested council race since 2005. That’s when newcomer Linda Koop won 56.3 percent of the 7,027 votes cast in her battle with Danny Harrison to replace Lois Finkelman. Koop was re-elected without an opponent in 2007, 2009, and 2011, and that’s all she wrote, thanks to term limits. Lee Kleinman and Ori Raphael are battling for her seat.
District 13’s last competitive race was in 2009, when newcomer Ann Margolin captured 57.25 percent of the 14,525 votes cast in her bout with Brint Ryan to replace Mitchell Rasansky. Two years ago, the only challenger Margolin drew was rabble-rouser Richard P. Sheridan. That mismatch attracted 9,985 votes, 89.44 percent of which went to Margolin. She’s leaving the council for personal reasons. Battling to replace her are Leland Burk, Jennifer Staubach Gates, Jacob King, and Sheridan.
