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My name is Randy Wharton; I am announcing my candidacy for Eastland County Commissioner in Precinct 1.  I am an Eastland County native; I was born in Eastland graduating from Eastland High School in 1976.  I am currently and have been employed by Eastland County Precinct 2, Road & Bridge since 2004.  Working with the County has given me hands-on experience and insight into the responsibilities of an active Commissioner.  I have experience in maintaining roads and equipment, fighting fires, working on and with budgets along with employees.

I will always listen to the opinions and be the voice of the taxpayers and continue to maintain or improve all County properties and work with all entities.  Eastland as well as outlying areas are growing and thriving, which makes it most important at this time for the County and the City to work together in order to benefit all.  I will stand strong and I will work hard to serve voters with a voice in county court to best serve the citizens of Eastland County fairly and adequately.

With my many years of service for Eastland County I have the experience, I have dedication and integrity for the job therefore, I ask for your vote for Eastland County Commissioner in Precinct 1.

(Political announcement authorized by Randy Wharton, P.O. Box 1462 , Eastland , Texas)

The following relief is hereby granted:

Residency

Since the composition of House and Senate districts in which candidates might offer themselves are uncertain until the Court enters an order pertaining to the districts of the offices described above, and to be fair to the present officeholders, potential candidates, and the citizens of Texas, the court finds it necessary to modify the residence requirements.

Therefore, it is ORDERED that for the 2012 elections to the Texas House of Representatives and Texas Senate, a person must be a resident of the district the person seeks to represent from a date to be determined later by the Court, and It is further ORDERED that an incorrect precinct, district, or office designation on an application for a place on the ballot shall be accepted by the filing authorities and shall not render the application invalid if the designation is amended or corrected on or before a date to be later determined by the Court.

Schedule

a. The filing deadline for all federal, state, county, and local offices is extended until 6:00 p.m. on December 19, 2011. The court will reopen the filing period at a later date at which time applications may be filed, amended, or withdrawn.

b. Any filing fees paid by any candidate, which are not refundable under State law, will be refundable to individuals who withdraw their application.

c. Any applications filed during the filing period to end on December 19, 2011, may be amended pursuant to deadlines established later by this Court with respect to office, precinct, place, or any other material detail, or the application may be withdrawn by the candidate, with refund of any filing fee.

d. If changes in county election precinct boundaries are necessary to give effect to a redistricting plan under Article III, Section 28, of the Texas Constitution, each commissioners court shall order the changes before a later date to be determined by the Court, as described in Texas Election Code § 42.032.

e. The Republican Party of Texas and the Texas Democratic Party may accept applications for the Texas House of Representatives, Texas State Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives. The applicant needs to list his or her lawful residence on such application and the district he or she believes is the appropriate designation for the office they sought. Any applications filed shall be amended during the reopened filing period to include the appropriate district number of the ultimately implemented redistricting plan in order to be valid.

f. This Court’s Orders of November 7, 2011 (Docs. 57 and 489) are vacated to the extent of any conflict with this Order.

g. For the purposes of elections held in 2012, Section 163.006, Election Code (requiring changes in Party Rules to be filed with the Secretary of State by the 30th day prior to the convening of precinct conventions) is suspended to allow the Republican and Democratic Parties to make emergency changes to their rules to comply with this and future Orders of this Court.

The State of Texas through the Secretary of State shall deliver an exact duplicate of this order to all election officials and county chairs, to the extent possible, within three days. The order shall also be posted by the Secretary of State on its website and the official election calendar as posted on the Secretary of State’s web site shall be updated to reflect the terms of this order.

Nothing in this order shall be construed by the Court or the parties as a waiver of the positions of each party with respect to the schedule or conduct of the upcoming election. The parties’ positions as stated at the December 13, 2011 hearing are expressly reserved.

The parties are ordered to appear at a hearing concerning the election schedule on January 12, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. unless otherwise directed in a later order.

LOCATlON{S) OF POLLING PLACES (DIRECCION (ES) DE LAS CAS/UAS ELECTORALES)

Precinct 1 Eastland – County Courthouse, 100 West Main, Eastland, TX 76448

Precinct 2 Olden – Olden Commwrity Center, 106 County Road 447, Olden, TX 76466

Precinct 3 Ranger – RangerCommwrity Center, 718 Pine St, Ranger, TX 76470

Precinct 4 Desdemona – Desdemona Commwrity Center, 6005 HWY 8, Desdemona, TX 76445

Precinct 5 Gorman – Gonnan Community Center, 118 S Kent St, Gorman, TX 76454

Precinct 6 Carbon – Carbon Commwrity Center, 201 W. Anthracite, Carbon, TX 76435

Precinct 7 Rising Star- Higginbotham Center, 108 N. Main, Rising Star, TX 76471

Precinct 8 Cisco – FBC Family life Cent~, 800 Avenue E, Cisco, TX 76437

Precinct 9 Lake Leon – Lake Leon Baptist Church, 2601 FM 2214, Gorman, TX 76448

Early voting by pensonal appearance will be conducted each weekday at: (La votacion adelantada en persona se lIevara a cabo de lunes a viemes en :)

Eastland County Courthouse. 100 W Main. Eastland. TX 76448

between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. beginning on October 24. 2011 (date)

(entre las.-!;!!!L de a manana y las 5:00 de la tarde empezando el Octubre 24. 2011 (fecha)

and ending on November 4. 2011 .(date). (y tenninando el Noviembre 4. 2011 (fecha)

Applications for ballot by mail shall be mailed to:
(Las solicitudes para boletas que se votaran adelantada par correa debert’ur enviarse a:)

Cathy Jentho
POBox 110
Eastland TX 76448

Applications for ballots by mail must be received no later than the close of business on:
(Las solicitudes para boletas que se votaran adelantada por correo debert’ur recibirse para elfin de las horas de negocio el:)

November 1, 2011

If a county has disproportionate precincts with a 10% deviation in population it is required by law to redistrict those precincts. According to the 2010 census, Eastland County’s population increased by 286 people from 18,297 to 18,583. The ideal population in each precinct would be 4,646. The following is a break down of the population of each precinct and how many people each precinct needs to gain/lose to attain the ideal 4,646.

In Tuesday’s meeting, Vanessa Gonzales from the Austin law firm Allison, Bass & Assoc. arrived with the latest changes to the precinct map. Plan 3A was adopted by the commissioners to be sent to the Department of Justice for final approval. This map’s biggest change is that it pulls the east section of Cisco and the west section of Eastland into Precinct 3 out of Precincts 1 and 4. After approval, voting precincts will be changed with the goal of making voting locations as convenient as possible for the voters.

The new precincts, if approved, will not take affect until 2012 elections.

Below is the proposed map with close up sections of changes to Eastland and Cisco.

Eastland Co Stats for Redistricting Map 3A

Previous Articles:

Eastland County Redistricting Begins
Redistricting Comes to Eastland