Guest Article submitted by Diana Olvedo-Karau

Top Picture by Diana Olvedo-Karau

01-06-25

  2024 has come to an end and as a community advocate, I am reflecting on politics in Uvalde County and how it will affect us into 2025. Take time to read these thoughts and remember, you have to look beyond the obvious.

    2024 was a presidential election year and in Uvalde County every person that ran for a county office, except maybe one individual, ran on the Republican ticket; after being lifelong Democrats. And almost every individual that ran for an elected office related to law-enforcement, and was present at the Robb School mass shooting, was elected to office.

   City politics had many ups and downs in 2024 beginning with Cody Smith winning the mayor’s race in November 2023 and resigning in April 2024, after defeating Kimberly Rubio, the mother of a child killed in the Robb School massacre. This placed the city council in a position of appointing Lalo Zamora as mayor pro tem, until a runoff election for the mayor’s position had Zamora defeated by Councilman Hector Luevano, a retired DPS officer.

    As happens almost every year, property taxes went up again. In the middle of all this, the Uvalde CISD petitioned the voters for an increased tax rate to help offset a $2 million deficit and Uvalde County commissioners approved a request by the Uvalde Volunteer Fire Department to petition the voters for the creation of an Emergency Service District, which would create another taxing entity. Voters said no to more taxes and defeated both propositions in the November 2024 election.

   The City of Uvalde closed out the year by considering a petition by the Carper Capt family and other investors for the creation of a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) to develop land surrounding the new Legacy Elementary School. The Capt’s donated the land for the new school, which provided a significant tax break for them and also created a burden for the City of Uvalde on how to deal with inadequate streets and infrastructure to handle expected increased traffic and growth in the area. So the perceived solution by too many on the city council is approving the TIRZ to pay for burdens created by accepting the donated land for the new school; thus allowing the Capt’s to develop the land for a profit. In a nutshell the Capt/investors get to use public funds for private gain.

   2025 will be an interesting year to watch in local politics, with the big question being, will Bill Mitchell run for reelection after being County Judge since 1987? There are plenty of people waiting in the wings hoping to take his place; but only if and when Mitchell decides to step down.

   Good old boy, status quo politics was alive and well in Uvalde County and looking to transition smoothly into 2025. Will Uvaldeans continue to sit back and do nothing to change this reality? I for one will continue to work towards change because it’s the only right thing to do. What about you?

by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian

11-26-24

At a public hearing following Uvalde County’s acceptance into the State of Texas Countywide Polling Program, Diana Olvedo-Karua spoke critically about the Uvalde County Elections Office failure to adequately inform registered voters of the change of two polling locations and how the Countywide Polling Program works.

“I was very surprised and very disappointed that the (polling) locations were announced right before the election,” Karau said.

Uvalde County Election Administrator Melissa Jones said, “There is a swath of people that made it to the Civic Center (to vote).”

Jones said that on election day, some of of the precinct polling locations within the County only had votes in the single digits

Rhonda Vigil blasted the Court calling the Countywide Polling Program illegal as it reveals how voters vote.

“Under the Constitution, this countywide voting is illegal at the State and Federal level,” Vigil said

She continued saying that many voters had no clue where to go and that the community does not know about Countywide voting.

Vigil continued making the claim that a non-citizen with a green card was allowed to vote with an ID.

Judge Mitchell informed Vigil she was then speaking off topic and her public speaking time was revoked. Vigil defiantly kept speaking saying, “This is my court.” Mitchell then summoned the court bailiff to remove Vigil from the Courtroom but Vigil sat down before the officer could approach her.

Jones countered Vigil’s claim citing the the non-citizen in question was provided a provisional ballot and that when the ballot board reviewed the provisional ballots, the non-citizens vote was rejected.

Uvalde County Commissioner John Yeackle disagreed with Karau and Vigil.”Countywide voting worked out perfectly. Where ever you showed up, you could vote,” he said.

Article submitted by Diana Olvedo-Karau

 August 4th, 2024

Where was Uvalde County Republican Chair, Charlie Downing on Monday, July 29th when the Uvalde County Commissioners held a special meeting to push through approving to apply to be part of the Countywide Polling Program (CPP)?

Submission by Diana Olvedo-Karau

Uvalde County Commissioners act like the decision on whether or not to apply for the County Wide Polling Program for elections cannot wait until after this election cycle. Why?

We are in the middle of a historical presidential election with very little time to make changes to the system and assure that the system will perform as required, or even adequate time to advise the voters of this change.

The Uvalde County Elections Office has done a very poor job of disseminating information to the voters before elections, during elections and after elections.

Year after year, this has caused some voters to be turned away on election day because they are required to vote at their polling location on that day and the voter is not aware of that rule.

One commissioner I spoke too uses this as the basis for supporting the effort to approve this action; completely disregarding the fact that the problem is not the existing polling system.

It is the fact that the Uvalde County Elections Office does a very poor job of disseminating information to the voters during each election cycle, so that every voter that wants to vote, can vote.

Submitted by Diana Olvedo-Karau

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