Local endorsed candidates will also speak at event featuring burgers, hot dogs, football on the big screen

Jesse Garcia

Stonewall Democrats of Dallas will hold its annual “Pride at the Polls” get-out-the-vote rally on Sunday, Oct. 26, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., at Woody’s, 4011 Cedar Springs Road. The event will feature rides to an early voting location, hot dogs and hamburgers and appearances by several Democratic candidates and Dallas County Democratic Party Chairwoman Darlene Ewing.

The event is free and open to the public.

Jesse Garcia, Stonewall Dallas president, said that with the voter registration deadline now past and early voting underway, the organization is concentrating its efforts on voter turnout.

“Each year, we take anywhere between 50 to 100 voters to the polls. We’re probably going to see a larger turnout this year,” he said.

Stonewall will rent a van to take voters to cast ballots at Grauwyler Recreation Center on Harry Hines Boulevard, the closest early voting polling location to Oak Lawn. Voters will be shuttled every 30 minutes to the center.

While they wait for their turn on the shuttle, Garcia said, voters can eat grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, watch the Dallas Cowboys/Tampa Bay Buccaneers game on Woody’s various television screens and hear from 2008 candidates. Candidates already set to speak are State Rep. Roberto Alonzo and Constable Jaime Cortes. More candidates were expected to be confirmed this week, Garcia said.

“Stonewall is not taking any vote for granted,” he said. “We have a lot of local candidates who are counting on the LGBT community to push them over the 50 percent mark.”

In the 2006 election, Stonewall saw several local judicial candidates endorsed by the group sweep offices up and down the ballot. Some of them, Garcia noted, won by razor-thin margins.

“Our good friend Judge Roberto Cañas, a straight ally and Stonewall member, won his 2006 race by getting 186,978 votes to 186,725 by his Republican opponent. Those 253 votes that came from the LGBT community helped put an LGBT-friendly judge in office,” Garcia said to emphasize the importance of voting.

Last week Stonewall mailed out nearly 5,000 postcards to households in LGBT-heavy precincts in Oak Lawn and Oak Cliff to remind voters about early voting and to invite them to Sunday’s get-out-the-vote rally, he said.

Last year, Stonewall mailed out postcards to known Democratic voters in those same precincts for the mayoral and city council races.

The number of households, at that time, with Democratic Primary voting histories was 977. This year those same six precincts, along with two more added, grew Stonewall’s mail list total to 4,780 households, he said.

“Stonewall was just floored when we received the voter lists containing thousands and thousands of Democrats,” said Garcia. “Luckily we just raised $10,000 two weeks ago to help pay for this get-out-the-vote mailer, special events with local candidates, and weekly full-page ads in the Dallas Voice.

“By the end of this election season, we will have marketed our Democratic slate to 50,000 voters.”

Early voting continues Friday, Oct. 24, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 25, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 26, from 1 to 6 p.m., and Monday, Oct. 27, through Friday, Oct. 31, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For early voting locations, Dallas County voters can visit www.dalcoelections.org or call 214-637-7937.



This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition October 24, 2008.




[ Visit Website ]