City of Lewisville - Above and Beyond!

While I am recovering from the shock and amazement at yesterday's turnout at the Democratic Primary and Caucuses, I wanted to take a moment to take care of something very important:

I want to offer on behalf of myself, my precinct, the poll workers, and the Denton County Democratic Party our profound and sincere thanks to the various people at the City of Lewisville, for going way above and beyond the call of duty yesterday in the city facilities hosting the 2008 Democratic Primaries and Caucuses.

We had no idea, months ago when these facilities were arranged, that Texas would be in play for the presidential races. Typically a Democratic primary is poorly attended, and a handful of people show up to the precinct conventions afterward. This year, we had thousands.

The city could have been hard-nosed, and forced voters to line up outside in the cold, and caucus outside. They could have strictly enforced parking to suppress our vote. They could have refused to help with voters' questions because "it's not my job".

But instead, our city staff - both at the Memorial Park Recreation Center, and at the City Hall - went above and beyond the call of duty to assist voters - fellow Lewisville residents - in every way they possibly could.

When the buildings were crowded, they opened more rooms. When there were scheduling conflicts, they cleared them. When we needed crowd control, they assisted. They answered phones and helped voters. They looked up precincts for people. When we ran out of forms, they helped us print more. When crowds became confused, they offered the use of a PA system. When it took way longer than expected to get everyone completed with voting and caucuses, they stayed late. When disabled voters needed to rest, they helped us find chairs and set up a waiting room outside of the line.

This dedication to preserving and encouraging the process of Democracy - regardless of party - reminds me again of just one of the many reasons I choose to make Lewisville my home.

Many lessons were learned last night. I hope that in the future, we will have better turnout projections so that we can plan ahead better. But our city should be proud that because of their staff, thousands of Lewisville residents had just a little easier time at the polls.

Lewisville did the right thing. I hope that the employees who helped will be commended for their service, and that this will be precedent for future elections with unpredictable turnout for either party or in the generals.

cc:
Mayor Carey and Council
Neil Durrance, County Chairman, Democratic Party