• Naked City

• The World Is Your Precinct

  BY LEE NICHOLS

• Do Unto Others Y Otros

  BY JORDAN SMITH

• God Hates Perry?

  BY RICHARD WHITTAKER

If you've enjoyed the convenience of early voting here in Texas, you may have wondered: Why can't it be this easy on election day? During early voting, of course, you can vote at any polling place in the county, but on election day, you have to vote in your neighborhood precinct – a hassle if you're trying, say, to squeeze voting in before or after work. Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir hopes to switch to a system of election day "vote centers" in which countywide polling places function just like early voting polls. She hopes the centers would make election day more convenient, give the county greater flexibility in where it sets up booths (and allow it to operate fewer polling places), and eliminate voter confusion about where to vote: "For the November 2010 election, more than 80% (5,747) of the phone calls we received were from persons asking for the location of their precinct polling place," she wrote to the Travis County Commissioners Court in an April 18 presentation. DeBeauvoir envisions a limited-scale launch of the concept for this November's elections, but first she needs to get approval from the Texas secretary of state, and before that, she must engage the public: There will be a public hearing before the Commissioners Court on Tuesday, June 21 (Ned Granger Building, 314 W. 11th), or you can phone the Travis County Elections Division at 854-4996; mail at PO Box 149325, Austin, 78714-9325; email at election@co.travis.tx.us; or comment at www.facebook.com/traviscountyelections.