134 Votes p.p.

As you may have heard November 2nd is Election day in the US. As expected the Americans take their Democratic Rights very seriously. I doubt however that many of you non Americans realize what that means in practice.

For instance someone who lives in Harris County in Texas (which is Houston the city, 1.9 MM people - the larger Houston metropole covers more counties and is some 4 MM people) will have to vote tomorrow for the following Federal, State and Local Positions and Propositions:

3 positions for US Representative (Federal)

1 Governor (State)

1 Lieutenant Governor (State)

1 Attorney General (State)

1 Controller of Public Accounts (State)

1 Commissioner of the General Land office (State)

1 Commissioner of Agriculture (State)

1 Railroad Commissioner (State)

3 Positions for Justice Supreme Court (State)

3 Positions for Judge Court of Criminal Appeals (State)

1 Position for district Member of the State Board of Education (State)

4 Positions for District State Senator

25 Positions for a District State Representative

5 Positions for Chief Justice, Court of Appeals, District 1 & 14

28 Positions for District Judges

8 Positions for Family District Judges

1 Position of County Judge

4 Positions for  a Judge County Court of Law # 1-4

15 Positions for Judge, County Criminal Court # 1 - 15

4 Positions for Judge, County Probate Court # 1 - 4

1 Position for District Clerk

1 Position for County Clerk

1 Position for County Tax Assessor - Collector

1 Position for County Treasurer

2 Positions for County School Trustee

2 Positions for County Commissioner, Precinct

8 Positions for Justice of the Peace, Precinct

3 Positions in the Walter-Harris Emergency Services District Board of Emergency Services Commissioners

3 Propositions for Houston

1 Additional  Proposition if you live in Baytown, Beechnut, Spring Valley Village or Nassau Bay

1 to 4 Positions for ISD (Independent School District) Trustee  - Depending which School District you live in.

That is 134 - 138 Votes to cast!!!! No wonder early voting is so popular here as it will take you a while to work your way through that I would think.

If you imagine that people are campaigning for each of these positions and propositions you can imagine we get much more of that 'nice slander type' campaigning then you all might see in the rest of the world. So personally we can't wait for it all to be over and see commercials, street signs, adds and discussions about something else. Fortunately as we are not on the electoral role we are saved from receiving the pre-recorded 'personal' phone messages from all candidates.

The Propositions are not really exciting either as they are about 1) Creating a dedicated drainage & street renewal fund to provide for enhancement, improvement and ongoing renewal of Houston's drainage and streets. 2) Amending the residency requirements for City Council Districts and 3)Set up Red Light Camera's throughout the City of Houston.

Texas politics are unlikely the ones worth watching tomorrow so you probably will not see much about those on international TV. Yes for the first time there is a Democratic Governor candidate who at least will win a decent amount of the votes but nobody expects him to actually beat the Republican candidate. No candidates who dabbled into Witchcraft, no Palin and other controversial figures, no Obama visits and no unexpected results forecasted here.....

.....I counted again....really 134 Votes p.p.!