If you cannot see the enthusiasm from the lines outside Northway Christian Church, you can certainly hear it from voters at what’s historically the highest turnout vote center in Dallas County along Northwest Highway.
“I couldn’t wait till this day,” said Kwaku Owiridu of Cedar Hill.
The vote center used to be located near Our Redeemer Lutheran Church but moved to Northway for this year’s election.
“I took off work to be here and get my vote in,” Chase Pederson added before getting in line.
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The start of early voting coincides with many voices still working to appeal to Dallas voters on key issues, like the eighteen amendments at the bottom of the ballot.
The Dallas Police Association, joined by eight city council members on Monday, urged a “no” vote on charter amendments “S, T, and U.”
“We know that everyone has been waiting for the DPA to take their stance,” Jaime Castro with DPA said.
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The proposals would allow citizens to sue city officials, tie the city manager’s job to the results of a community survey, and a third, focused on public safety mandates the hiring of 900 DPD officers.
A long list of current and former Dallas leaders, including four former mayors, have called the proposals bad for taxpayers, saying if passed, the measures could cripple city government.
Castro said Monday the group that gathered the signatures never consulted DPA before putting the ideas forward to voters.
“We believe having over 3000 officers come out and say, ‘We stand against this,’ is going to resonate across the city,” Castro said.
DPA, the largest police association representing about 2,500 officers, was joined on Monday by a representative from the Black Police Association.
However, the opposition to the three charter amendments among police associations is not unanimous.
Sheldon Smith, president of the National Black Police Association – Dallas Chapter, told NBC 5 that he supports the amendments.
“It is wonderful our city continues to grow but those who don’t want to do what it takes to increase our numbers really don’t know the life of active police,” Smith said.
The position of the National Latino Law Enforcement Organization (NLLEO) chapter in Dallas on the charter amendments wasn’t immediately available.
Dallas currently has just under 3100 sworn officers.
Former police chief Eddie Garcia told a council committee in August that his goal was for the department to reach 3600 officers by 2033 by hiring new officers and deploying a variety of strategies to increase the retention of existing officers.
Pete Marocco, with Dallas Hero, the group that placed the three charter amendments on the ballot, said Monday many rank-and-file officers support them too, and 170,000 signatures from Dallas voters should speak louder than elected officials in opposition.
“This is the people’s proposition, this is about a solution for the city of Dallas and for the police department,” Marocco said.
While campaigning on both sides of the amendments continues tonight, it remains to be seen how impactful the messaging will be, with a majority of voters not waiting until Nov. 5 to have their voices heard.
