Residents within Richardson ISD will be voting for members to represent districts 2, 4 and 5 on the RISD school board of trustees.
According to county data, 26,926 residents have submitted ballots in Dallas County through the first week of early voting. This voter turnout represents 1.92% of the county's almost 1.4 million registered voters.
There are three polling locations where Dallas County residents can vote in the Richardson and Lake Highlands/Lakewood area of Dallas: Richardson City Hall, Audelia Road Branch Library and Dallas College Richland Campus. These polling sites combined saw 3,314 early ballots during the first week of voting.
Voters in Dallas County may cast a ballot at any polling location in the county during early voting and on election day. To find out where to vote during early voting and on election day in Dallas County, click here. In Dallas County, polls will be open for early voting from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
This year, six Dallas County polling locations in Richardson and two in the Lake Highlands/Lakewood area of Dallas will be closed for the May 7 election because of a shortage of poll workers. Those include Skyview Elementary, Lake Highlands Junior High, Lake Highlands High, Wallace Elementary, Spring Valley Elementary, Richardson North Junior High and Dan D. Rogers Elementary schools, and St. Andrews Presbyterian Church.
Positions up for election include single-member districts 2, 4 and 5, though only two of the three races are contested.
Board President Regina Harris is running unopposed in her re-election bid for District 4, cementing her second term on the board. A total of three candidates are vying for the single-member District 2 seat, including incumbent Board Member Eron Linn, Sherry Clemens and Vanessa Pacheco.
The three candidates running in the single-member District 5 race are Kile Brown, Rachel McGowan and Jan Stell. The District 5 seat has remained vacant since Sept. 24 when former President Karen Clardy resigned by way of a letter sent to former Superintendent Jeannie Stone and her fellow board trustees.
Read Q&As from the candidates for District 2 and District 5 for more information.
In addition to the local races, voters will see two statewide propositions on the ballot. Although property taxes are already frozen for the disabled and those age 65 and older, Proposition 1 will ask voters whether to allow the Texas Legislature to provide additional tax relief from school districts for even those elderly and disabled homeowners with frozen taxes.
Proposition 2 will ask voters whether to increase the amount of the residence homestead exemption from ad valorem taxation for public schools from $25,000 to $40,000.
Every homeowner in Texas is already offered a $25,000 homestead exemption on property taxes from public school districts—meaning the first $25,000 of a home’s appraised property value does not count against a homeowner’s annual property taxes, according to Joshua Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project for The University of Texas. If approved, that exemption for homeowners would be raised to $40,000.
