Voting News

Dallas County gets grant to overcome 2020 Presidential election challenges

The circumstances surrounding this election are unprecedented.

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The 2020 Presidential election is already promising to be a cluster, and that's not even factoring in COVID-19. But the Dallas County Elections Department is getting help in the form of a multimillion-dollar grant from a nonprofit to help with staffing and resources for the event.

According to a release, the county received $15,130,433 from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonpartisan nonprofit that connects elections officials with technology to better communicate with voters and increase civic engagement.

The pandemic has brought new challenges to administering elections safely and securely. This grant will allow Dallas County to:

hire additional personnel
purchase additional voting and mail ballot sorting equipment
open and operate more Early Voting and Election Day locations
ensure sanitization of voting equipment
purchase sufficient PPE for both poll-workers and voters.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says that the circumstances surrounding this election are unprecedented, and lists all the ways that Texas has jacked it up, including:

anticipated long lines due to Gov. Greg Abbott blocking expanded mail-in-voting during the pandemic
the legislature's elimination of straight-ticket voting
the necessity for social distancing due to the pandemic
longer ballots due to the addition of municipal and ISD races and measures

"We know this election will be unlike any other in recent history," Jenkins says. "The over $15 million grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life to our Dallas County Elections Department for this general election acknowledges the challenges we face and provides resources to ensure your vote counts and we have a safe and secure election this November."

Toni Pippins-Poole, Elections Administrator for Dallas County calls the grant "an investment in the success of our upcoming election" which will help ensure that every citizen who is eligible to vote can do so in a safe and secure manner.

There's more information about the Center for Tech and Civic Life and their COVID-19 Response Fund on their website, www.techandciviclife.org.

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Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

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This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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