Road(blocks) to the polls
Rowlett Mayor Blake Margolis, right and Ken Paxton, right Freedom Place Church in Rowlett does not have enough parking spaces to serve as an early polling location, the Rowlett mayor says Rowlett mayor questions decision to moving polling place; Paxton continues intimidation efforts CAROLINE SAVOIE | Contributing Writer CarolinelSavoie@gmail.com With less than three weeks before early voting starts in Texas, groups on one side of the political divide are accelerating efforts to bring more voters to the polls while some on the other side are fighting to ensure that fewer people are able to vote or to advocate for others to vote.
In Rowlett, Mayor Blake Margolis is concerned about how his residents are going to get to the polls after the Dallas County Elections Department moved the city’s only early voting location from the Rowlett Community Centre to a local church.
Freedom Place Church in Rowlett does not have enough parking spaces to serve as an early polling location, the Rowlett mayor says Margolis said that in 2020, for the last presidential election, more than 22,150 people voted at the Rowlett Community Centre — the eighth-highest early voter turnout location in the entire county.
He said Rowlett offered the community center as an election location for 2024 at no cost to the county. “The 2024 presidential election is expected to produce an even higher early voting turnout,” Margolis said. “Therefore, I am concerned by the Dallas County Elections Department’s decision to designate Freedom Place Church as an early voting site.” Rowlett resident Kellie McKee said she is worried about the access voters will have at the church, as it has only nine parking spaces and one handicap parking space.
