Lake Travis Dems to polling place voters: Pay no attention to our candidates on the loudspeaker!

Visit any polling place during voting hours in Texas and you'll pass distance markers, legal postings, and the watchful gaze of poll watchers and election staff. If you happen to step on the wrong eggshell then get ready to hear all about it.

That is, if you're not a member of a local Democrat club in a town just west of Austin. Then, according to various complaints, you can get away with not only violating the distance limit but outright mocking the regulations from a loudspeaker in an open-door rally for candidates. You can even illegally campaign for candidates on ballots just feet away, or be one of the candidates yourself. Neither the election judge, or the county sheriff, or even the media will apparently step in to warn you.

“We’re obviously, like, 40 feet away from a polling place? And there's an investigative reporter from the Texas Tribune here. [laughter] ... So that's all I'm gonna to say about that," said Jonathan Bove, a Democrat-endorsed candidate for Lake Travis Independent School District Board of Trustees, Place 4, according to a recording of the meeting (see below). Bove is opposing John Severance, a Republican-backed candidate for Place 4 on the local school board.

May 2025 Conservative Voter Guide - Travis County

Early voting is April 22-29 with Local Election Day being Saturday, May 3, 2025.

Turnout has been under 10,000 in Travis County for the first election since the mother of all elections in fall 2024. The good news there is that this is one of those elections in which the winners will be those who turn out the most of their supporters to the polls.

The bad news is that not everyone in the county will have a ballot, so voter confusion is a factor in the May 2025 Local Elections. Have no fear: The Tracker has you covered! First, find out if you're eligible for a ballot this time at www.VoteTravis.com and generate a sample ballot.

Secondly, see below for a complete list of recommendations. While we did our best to include all races, not all will have recommendations. Actually, most won't because of lack of local input, or the fact that most are non-controversial. But look for the bold print where we think a conservative vote is needed.

'Widest bridge in Texas' to be built in South Austin?

We're taking a closer look at this situation, but thought we'd go ahead and share this email we received soliciting opposing comments on what appears to be plans for a humongous bridge south of Town Lake -- perhaps the widest in Texas. 

As you know, I [Dean Van Landuyt] am a bridge engineer with more than 40 years of design experience.  The ATP (Austin Transportation Partnership) is planning to build the WIDEST bridge in the State of Texas along Riverside Drive.  There is nothing light about the light rail bridge they have in mind.  They’re budgeting for a cheap, heavy highway structure.  The ATP has done a bait-and-switch since the bond vote and now wants to move the tracks from the street level up to a new 1-mile-long highway-type bridge.  At the junction of the South Congress and Riverside lines, the structure balloons from 35’ to approximately 150' wide.  For scale, the current widest bridge in the state is on I-10 in Houston and is 140' wide.

Ironically, at a time when TxDOT is tearing down the twin I35 elevated bridges and depressing the mainlanes downtown to improve the appearance and quality of life in the city, ATP is trying to slip in this monstrosity.  They have not been forthcoming about how massive this is.  They have only shown a few pretty renderings of people ambling next to zippy light rail stations.

I was able to track down some minimal engineering plans and expose what they are really up to.  And wouldn’t you know, a huge bridge is the preferred solution of the developers who recently bought the old American-Statesman and TxDOT buildings on the NE corner of Congress and Riverside Drive.  ...

If you would like to keep the south shore of Lady Bird Lake from turning into a blighted area, I ask that you copy and attach the attached Word file [via Google Docs] and send it to input@atptx.org.

Austin kids' museum staff: give us DEI training!

UPDATE: The Thinkery responded with a statement, not mentioning the DEI demand specifically.

Parents, children, and other visitors were taken aback today when encountering a picket line in front of a popular kids' venue in Austin due to a strike at least partially fueled by DEI.

Formerly the Austin Children's Museum, The Thinkery is funded through a combination of philanthropic gifts, ticket sales ($18/head), and local government funds, such as the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.

According to a note being distributed by a group of Thinkery employees and "floor staff," there were numerous safety concerns with the building and a lack of emergency training. A Reddit thread indicated that at least five employees were recently terminated, which may have sparked the dissent. The letter named a lead staff member, demanding her termination.

Among the other items was a rather politically charged demand: