Okay, here you go: Consistently, one of the busiest of Travis County’s early voting sites is Northcross Mall. Oops, make that was – thanks to the construction currently underway on the property, that is no longer an option. For the upcoming election, the county was forced to move two blocks west to the less convenient and less visible Ben Hur Shriners Hall at 7811 Rockwood. Hey, who needs democracy? We’re going to have low prices, dammit!
(Okay, I’ll be fair – this likely would have happened at some point anyway. But I’d be more accepting if Lincoln had proposed a good redevelopment for my neighborhood instead of a Wal-Mart.)
Other early voting moves: Rather than continuing their exile to portable buildings in the parking lot of the East Seventh Street H-E-B, county officials have moved that voting location one block north to the Parque ZaragoZa Recreation Center, 2608 Gonzales.
Also, after being gone for a few election cycles, early voting will return to Hancock Center (North I-35 & East 41st Street). But instead of the H-E-B, it will be next door in the tiny Washington Mutual Bank Branch.
Early voting begins Tuesday, Feb. 19 and runs through Feb. 29. Click here for a full list of early and mobile voting sites.
This article appears in February 15 • 2008.