Frey for Texas"Each roadblock between a voter and that ballot box removes just another pin holding this country togeather". Well said friend, thank you for speaking up at the Denton County Commissioners Court! 💪🗳️ We need County-wide voting on Election Day in Denton County. We can't let the Denton Co Republican Party Chair, Melinda Preston, hold this entire county hostage.
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My name is Witt Dietrich. I'm a 36-year resident of Denton County. Thank you. I would like to speak to you today about these voting centers. Over the years, I have served as a voter registrar, an election clerk, an alternate judge, and an elections observer. Since I retired in 2022, I have logged over 2,000
volunteer hours for this county. I tell you this, just so you know that I care deeply about elections, about democracy, and I care about this county. I have a couple stories I'd like to share with you about my experiences working elections in this in Denton. On the general election day in 2024, I was working a polling site in Carleton.
I counted just over 50 people that were turned away in one day. They weren't turned away because they didn't have proper ID. They weren't turned away because they weren't registered. They weren't turned away because they weren't residents of Denton County. They were turned away just because they were at the wrong polling site.
They were at a polling site that just a week earlier they could have voted without any problems at all. They were disappointed, they were confused, and some of them were downright angry. Angry at us, the clerks, the judges who were just trying to help them out, and we were following the rules. During the general election in 2020, I was working the
polling stations in Shady Shores. She rushed out of there, and I'm pretty sure she probably scared a few people on the road between Bolivar and Shady Shores. Now I'd like to talk to you a little bit about the future generations. Young people today are more disillusioned than ever with government on every level, and it shows.
Sometimes it feels like pulling teeth just to get them registered into the polls. My own daughter included, I should say, to prove to them just how important it is for them to be actively involved in the democratic process. It isn't because they aren't aware. They know the county has the technology to process votes on election day, the same as for early voting.
Turning them away after they have crossed all the other hurdles with this one rule serves only to embitter them more. Voting is a sacred right and the keystone of our democracy Every last one of us should be working diligently to uphold and protect that right. You, me, and every other citizen in this room.
Each roadblock between a voter and that ballot box removes just another pin holding this country together. This court has an obligation to uphold the rights of everyone in the county and should be searching for ways to encourage more participation. Voting centers would be a common sense step in that direction. Mr.
Deaker, if you could you can finish your thought if you go ahead. Basically, I I just want us to build these voting centers in because it's the right thing to do. As she said, we shouldn't have one person holding us hostage over this issue. It's the common sense thing to do.